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Diana welcomes cautious Council move on the Lobby register
September 15, 2010 2:06 PM
Originally published by Diana Wallis MEP
Originally published by Diana Wallis MEP
After repeated calls from both the European Parliament and Commission for the Council to join them in the inter-institutional negotiations for a common register of lobbyists, the Council has now announced a cautious move to "review" the project.
"If this materialises, it will represent a welcome evolution in the Council's position," says Diana Wallis, Vice President of the Parliament, who heads up the Parliament team on the Inter-institutional High Level Working group on Interest Representatives. "Until now, we have always met with a brick wall when we invited the Council to take part in negotiations to set up and co-ordinate the lobby registers of the Commission and Parliament."
The Commission has had a system for the registration of lobbyists on a voluntary basis since 2008. The EP register is de facto compulsory because to obtain a badge to access Parliament's buildings lobbyists are required to register. With the new common register, which is due to be launched in June 2011, the system will remain voluntary.
"With the Council on board however, we may have more of a chance of making this system mandatory in the long-run," hopes Diana Wallis.
At the conclusion of the General Affairs Council held on 13 September in Brussels, Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere asked the Committee of Permanent Representatives to review the Commission and Parliament's proposal to set up a common register of lobbyists to the EU institutions.
The Commission and the Parliament will hold a joint information seminar about the new joint register on 6th October in the EP, where both Commissioner Sefcovic and Diana Wallis will speak, from 12h30-15h. Registrations and information can be obtained by writing to: marie.thiel@europarl.europa.eu
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