Friday

1st Dec 2023

EU transparency register riddled with errors

  • Over a hundred major companies that lobby EU officials are missing from the EU's joint-transparency register. (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

Incomplete listings and false information by lobbyists in the EU's joint transparency register are among some of the latest findings in a report by transparency group Alter-EU.

Published on Thursday (20 June), the report says the voluntary register, which compiles companies and groups that lobby the European Parliament and the European Commission, “is unconvincing at best, and dismal at worst.”

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Over 100 major companies known to be lobbying EU officials are missing.

They include Adidas, Apple, General Motors Europe, Heineken, Porsche, Rio Tinto, Disney, Shanks Group, SAP, Time Warner, Nissan, and Northrop Grumman.

Top banks are also missing, such as Banco Santander, BBVA Group, Belfius (formerly Dexia), la Caixa, Erste Group Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Nomura, Nordea, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swedbank and UBS.

Goldman Sachs, for its part, met with economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn three times between January 2011 and February 2012.

In the same period, over 60 percent of Rehn’s meeting were with unregistered lobby companies.

Alter-EU says some of the details in the register are not credible and that listed budgets are under-reported.

According to the register, the medium-sized French insurance company IRCEM tops the lobbying budget list with some €55 million spent in 2011.

IRCEM has no office in Brussels.

But its declared spending exceeds the combined lobby expenditures of BNP Paribas, Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Ford, Unilever, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Shell, GDF Suez, British Airways, Microsoft, Bayer, IBM, STATOIL, Syngenta, Ericsson and Nokia.

Other smaller companies with no Brussels-based offices - in the kitchen appliance industry, for instance - also express unusually high lobby budgets.

“It is clearly not credible that small printing or fridge companies are spending more on EU lobbying than far larger and more politically active companies such as Shell, Google or BNP Paribas,” Alter-EU said.

Around 55 smaller to medium-sized lobby consultancies based in Brussels are also not listed.

MEPs want the register to be mandatory but the commission favours a voluntary-based system.

Alter-EU’s Paul de Clerk says a mandatory register would solve a lot of the errors and omissions.

He points out that a legal basis under the Lisbon Treaty exists to create a mandatory register.

“The commission should use the review process to begin making the necessary legislative proposal,” he said in a statement.

Correction : The Alter-EU report incorrectly stated German former centre-right MEP Ingo Friedrich failed to register his consultancy group European Communications in the transparency register. In fact, European Communications was registered but was removed from the registry when Friedrich shut down the offices in Brussels and Munich in 2012. European Communications' website, however, remained active. This article was updated on Friday (12 July).

Orban's sovereignty bill seen as fresh attack on rule of law

Hungary's new sovereignty law has been criticised by the opposition as 'another dark milestone' for the country's democratic values and the rule of law — and it could bring yet another clash between Budapest and Brussels.

Analysis

How Wilders' Dutch extremism goes way beyond Islamophobia

Without losing sight of his pervasive Islamophobia, it is essential to note Geert Wilders' far-right extremism extends to other issues that could drastically alter the nature of Dutch politics — and end its often constructive role in advancing EU policies.

Latest News

  1. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat
  2. Migrant return bill 'obstructed' as EU states mull new position
  3. Paris and Berlin key to including rape in gender-violence directive
  4. What are the big money debates at COP28 UN climate summit?
  5. 'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU
  6. EU offers Turkey upgrade, as Sweden nears Nato entry
  7. Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog
  8. Finland's closure of Russia border likely violates asylum law

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us