For the first time, the damaging influence of big business lobbying has been a prominent election topic across Europe, and nowhere is this role more evident than in the European Commission's influential advisory groups, instrumental in shaping new laws and legislation, from banking to climate change to food safety. Unfortunately those in charge at the Commission are now trying to get away with ignoring the problem, which is why the recent investigation into the groups announced by the European Ombudsman is such good news. This could provide the impetus to both newly-elected MEPs and civil society groups to ensure that when the Commission comes to review the overarching rules for its advisory groups next year, it is the public interest rather than corporate interests that are at the heart of EU decision making.
Trying to clean up the Commission's advisory groups – formally known as 'Expert Groups' – is nothing new. The European Parliament has been attempting to for years, as have civil society groups, including many members of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU (link is external)). In November 2011 Parliamentarians were so exasperated by the Commission's lack of progress that they froze the Expert Groups budget. The European Parliament demanded that its four conditions were formalised before the budget freeze was lifted: no corporate domination of Groups; no lobbyist sitting in Groups in a 'personal capacity' (i.e. pretending to be independent); public calls for application for all new Groups; and full transparency.
However, it was only when the money started looking like it would run out, in March 2012, that the Commission undertook a full review of all its Expert Groups. The budget freeze was lifted September 2012 under the proviso that the conditions would be treated as de facto rules as the official review of the horizontal rules (those that apply to all Groups and all departments aka DGs) wasn't until 2015. An informal process between the Parliament and the Commission was launched to oversee the implementation, with the Parliament threatening to re-freeze the budget if progress wasn't made.
A report produced by ALTER-EU with the support of Arbeiterkammer and ÖGB in November, A Year of Broken Promises (link is external) shows that many Expert Groups created since the budget freeze was lifted have in fact not complied with conditions, particularly in certain economic and politically important Commission departments, like Taxation and Customs Union or the Secretariat General itself. Corporate interests continue to dominate and their lobbyists are still pretending to be in groups in a personal capacity rather representing, for example, KPMG or Shell. The intervening year since the budget was lifted has been one of broken promises, which is why the investigation from the Ombudsman is so necessary.
http://corporateeurope.org/expert-groups/2014/05/eu-ombudsman-puts-commissions-corporate-dominated-expert-groups-back-under
Overhauling Expert Groups in need of new impetus
Trying to clean up the Commission's advisory groups – formally known as 'Expert Groups' – is nothing new. The European Parliament has been attempting to for years, as have civil society groups, including many members of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU (link is external)). In November 2011 Parliamentarians were so exasperated by the Commission's lack of progress that they froze the Expert Groups budget. The European Parliament demanded that its four conditions were formalised before the budget freeze was lifted: no corporate domination of Groups; no lobbyist sitting in Groups in a 'personal capacity' (i.e. pretending to be independent); public calls for application for all new Groups; and full transparency.
However, it was only when the money started looking like it would run out, in March 2012, that the Commission undertook a full review of all its Expert Groups. The budget freeze was lifted September 2012 under the proviso that the conditions would be treated as de facto rules as the official review of the horizontal rules (those that apply to all Groups and all departments aka DGs) wasn't until 2015. An informal process between the Parliament and the Commission was launched to oversee the implementation, with the Parliament threatening to re-freeze the budget if progress wasn't made.
A report produced by ALTER-EU with the support of Arbeiterkammer and ÖGB in November, A Year of Broken Promises (link is external) shows that many Expert Groups created since the budget freeze was lifted have in fact not complied with conditions, particularly in certain economic and politically important Commission departments, like Taxation and Customs Union or the Secretariat General itself. Corporate interests continue to dominate and their lobbyists are still pretending to be in groups in a personal capacity rather representing, for example, KPMG or Shell. The intervening year since the budget was lifted has been one of broken promises, which is why the investigation from the Ombudsman is so necessary.
http://corporateeurope.org/expert-groups/2014/05/eu-ombudsman-puts-commissions-corporate-dominated-expert-groups-back-under
