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During one of DG Trade's recent meetings with civil society, I raised CEO's concerns about the privileged access given to big business interests by the Commission when developing trade policy. The reply from Director General, David O'Sullivan, was surprisingly frank.

During one of DG Trade's recent meetings with civil society, I raised CEO's concerns about the privileged access given to big business interests by the Commission when developing trade policy. The reply from Director General, David O'Sullivan, was surprisingly frank.

As law firms continue to evade transparency on their lobbying activities by boycotting the European Commission’s register of interest representatives, Corporate Europe Observatory decided to shed some light on the extent of law firm lobbying in Brussels.Law firms are not required to register their activities – the Commission’s register remains voluntary for all interest representatives – and in July, just four law firms had registered.

Many key committees will for the next five years be headed by MEPs who have a record of close links with big business interests in decisions on environment and consumer rights. This highlights the need to improve the European Parliament’s current rules on corporate donations and links to commercial interests.

As yet, it is not clear whether the Commission will announce changes to the lobby transparency register before the summer break or wait until September.

On the first anniversary of the European Commission's lobby transparency register, less than one in four Brussels-based lobby groups and firms have signed up. At a press briefing yesterday, however, the Commission hailed the register as "a success" and argued that "the numbers do not point to an instant need to make registration compulsory."

There was no shortage of bad news in the European Parliament elections results earlier this month. Take the turnout rate of 43%, the lowest since the start of European elections in 1979, signaling a growing sense of alienation and disempowerment among voters. No less shocking is the fact that so many MEPs were elected from xenophobic parties in Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, the UK and other EU countries.

We have in this blog reported extensively about the boycott by Brussels-based think tanks of the transparency register. We have also congratulated Commissioner Kallas for taking on Friends of Europe as a particularly obvious example of a corporate-funded think tank that really must register.