In view of the Consultation on the Transparency Register during the first year of the implementation, the Civil Society Contact Group (CSCG) issued a Statement on the Transparency Register. The members of the CSCG have intensely discussed the Transparency Register, agreeing to commonly express their concerns and highlight recommendations to enhance transparency.
Civil Society Contact Group Statement on the Transparency Register
The public consultation, launched by the joint European Parliament Commission Secretariat of the Register, is open until 31 August. This consultation is an opportunity for civil society to highlight the importance of having a meaningful transparency register for public policy making in an initiative that will help citizens to understand who is trying to influence EU policy-making.
Contributions from the consultation will be analysed in the autumn and form the basis for an annual report.
The Transparency Register has to be a tool for people living in Europe, EU decision-makers (e.g. Members of the European Parliament, Commission Officials and Member State representatives) and journalists should become aware of which stakeholders are trying to influence EU policy-making and what resources they are using to shape decisions that affect all of us. Knowing who is trying to influence the EU processes is essential in a democratic society, and will ensure confidence in the EU institutions as it improves the functioning of EU institutions.
Since 2005 the Civil Society Contact Group, of which EPHA is a member, has been contributing enormously to the debate on the lobby register by calling for further transparency. We recognise that the voluntary “Transparency Register” is an improvement, but also consider that the lobbying transparency still has a long way to go. Greater transparency could be promoted through:
– Making registration mandatory in the future, creating more sanctions to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information that the register contains.
– Creating more incentives to use the register. For example, allow only organisations inside the Transparency Register to make use of EU Institutions’ premises to host events. Members of experts groups and respondents to consultations should also be encouraged to use the register.
– Include names of all individual lobbyists.
-Apply equal rules to all “lobbyists”. The Transparency register requests different types of financial information from different types of actors.
– Include all activities aimed at influencing the EU policy “Transparency Register”,
– Actively enforce disclosure requirements to ensure that those registered disclose reliable information on lobbying budgets, client lists, number of lobbyists employed, and issues lobbied on.
– Includethe European Council in the Register
—-
EPHA related articles:
-[->5286]
-[->5096]
-[->4582]
-[->4116]
-[->2278]
-[->2289]
-[->4213]