Commission told to propose legislation for lobby register

The pro-transparency group Alter-EU has urged the European Commission to approve the necessary legislation to make a proposed mandatory lobby register work efficiently.

The lobby register is part of the work plan of Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who wants to set up a so-called inter-institutional agreement with the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on transparency. This would enforce the publication of details of meetings between EU officials and lobby groups, but would not include sanctions on failure to comply.

In a statement issued on 9 December, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation said that basing the creation of the register on an inter-institutional agreement instead of EU legislation would not yield the level of transparency expected.