(04 November 2013) – The Alter-EU NGO platform launched a petition on 30 October to make it compulsory for lobbyists to register on the Transparency Register.
The registration of lobbyists to the Transparency Register, which was created in 2011 after lengthy negotiations between the institutions and professionals, is currently not compulsory. Organisations can choose to enroll or not.
The petition comes a few weeks before the presentation by the European Commissioner for Administration, Maros Sefcovic, and a group of MEPs, of a report on improvements to the current system.
Between 15 000 and 30 000 lobbyists operate around the EU institutions in Brussels and their influence is regularly discussed and questioned. Problems already identified in practice include the refusal of certain influential groups or think tanks, which present themselves as neutral, to disclose their sources of funding. (With Contexte)