Transparency Register

Ahead of the Commission's proposal for a new ‘mandatory’ lobby transparency register, CEO takes a look at the summary of the public consultation on the subject: civil society's call for better transparency systems faces the spin of corporate lobby groups and trade associations, which appear to promote transparency values but recommend limited implementation, loopholes and toothless management.

A Corporate Europe Observatory complaint to the lobby register secretariat is challenging the Commission to properly implement its own lobby transparency rules. 

NGOs write an open letter on Dieselgate to demand EU action to protect citizens from air pollution and the manipulative and fraudulent behaviour of carmakers.

The 'cash for access' scandal in the UK has taken the House of Commons by storm and prompted a vote about banning certain second jobs for MPs. CEO looks at what the scandal shows us about the loopholes in the European Parliament's own rules and procedures.

LobbyControl, CEO and Friends of the Earth Europe have made a formal complaint to the EU lobby register about the entry of Goldman Sachs which the NGOs consider signficantly under-reports its lobby spend.

Learn about the role corporate lobbies have in EU decision-making, how they manage to get what they want and how their activities affect citizens all over Europe.

Corporate Europe Observatory welcomes the announcement by European Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans today after a college discussion on Commission president Juncker’s Transparency Initiative. It appears that earlier announced transparency obligations on commissioners to publish details of meetings with lobbyists, are now extended to also cover staff in cabinets and directors-general. This is an important step forward in providing greater transparency around the role of lobbying in EU decision-making, but further steps are needed.

David Cameron's nomination of a revolving door ex-lobbyist, Jonathan Hopkin Hill, as EU commissioner is bad news for Jean-Claude Juncker's newly-stated commitment to lobby transparency.

Transparency campaigners cannot find a single area of “good progress” made by the review group to improve the EU’s lobby register, according to a scorecard published today by ALTER-EU. The scorecard assesses the outcome of the recent EU Transparency Register review process against ALTER-EU's own recommendations for reform. The assessment has been made after receiving leaked copies of the final outcome of the review process.

Law firms are campaigning for exemptions to the EU lobby register and it looks very much as if Commissioner Šefčovič and Rainer Wieland MEP are keen to help them out.

What lessons can we learn from the US experience of a mandatory lobby register? As MEPs consider whether to opt for a mandatory EU lobby register, CEO analyses the myths and facts surrounding the US system.