When is a conversation with a politician just catching up, and when is it lobbying? Is a text message from Commission President Von der Leyen to Pfizer's top executive about corona vaccines relevant to policy, or is it private? This week, the European Court held that the commission failed to provide sufficient justification that the messages were unimportant. But that mainly raises the question: when does something count as influencing decision-making?
Brussels cannot do without lobbying. Policy makers need information to make good choices and businesses, NGOs and other organizations that deal with the effects of legislation on the ground. Often formal and informal contacts are constantly intertwined. Running into a former colleague at a conference, sending an app, having lunch with an acquaintance: it happens daily and can be just as influential as a formal consultation. Yet this type of contact often falls by the wayside.
And that is not without risk; the EU is characterized by problems with transparency. Consider the Qatargate scandal, where MPs were suspected of taking money in exchange for political support. Or the riot surrounding Huawei, where recent searches of lobbyists were conducted on suspicion of bribery. Such cases are bad for trust in the EU, precisely because they show that the current system offers too little insight into exactly who is at the table.
The EU does have a lobby register, but it records mostly formal meetings. Nor are Von der Leyen's appends published because she herself has not filed them as important. So it does not capture everything that could in practice fall under lobbying, and as long as it remains unclear what it does and does not include, it also remains unclear to the outside world who influenced which decision.
As recently proposed by Castro in Amsterdam with the introduction of a municipal lobby register, more openness actually helps to get ahead of mistrust. Actively showing who was spoken to when, and why, creates room for a fairer and more transparent process. This is just as true in Brussels as it is at the local level in the Netherlands.
The EU makes high demands on others when it comes to integrity and openness. Then it is only natural that it should also show itself to be willing to be accountable for how decisions are made.
Want to know more or discuss this further? Then contact Roel Yska (roel@castro.brussels), EU and lobbying advisor at Castro EU.