Too many gaps

Court of Auditors criticizes register for lobbyists

The European Court of Auditors criticized the voluntary transparency register for lobbyists on Wednesday. For example, they only have to register for planned meetings with the highest-ranking employees of the EU institutions, but not for spontaneous meetings. Telephone calls and email contacts do not have to be formally recorded either.

This means that the EU Transparency Register does not have the "desired impact", the auditors criticized. For example, lobbyists would not even need to register for meetings with employees below the level of a Director-General. 

The register was first introduced in 2011, with the Council only joining ten years later. It is voluntary and there are no sanctions. In eight member states, including Austria, the register is mandatory in the USA and Canada. Anyone who violates the lobbying law in this country must expect a fine of up to 60,000 euros.

Roberta Metsola became the new President of the EU Parliament following the corruption scandal.(Bild: APA/AFP/FREDERICK FLORIN)

Deterrent sanctions needed
In its report, the European Court of Auditors has now also criticized the EU-wide voluntary approach. The Council of Europe recommends "effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions in the event of violations." Registering alone is not enough, additional measures are also necessary. "The EU Transparency Register must not become a paper tiger," said auditor Jorg Kristijan Petrovič.

The auditors advise the Council, the Commission and the Parliament to have a standardized register, to make the website more user-friendly and clearer and to better control the quality of the published data.

"Katargate" 2022
The background to this is that in December 2022, allegations were made that Qatar's government had unlawfully influenced or even bribed former and current members of the EU Parliament. This was intended to achieve foreign policy goals in favor of the country. Since then, the Parliament has passed several resolutions on the transparency register, such as stricter access to the EU Parliament or for meetings between employees and lobbyists.

So far, this is said to be neither systematic nor uniform. This year, around 12,500 lobbyists are registered, compared to only 5,500 in 2012.