Lobby transparency

Read our submission to the EU lobby transparency register consultation and find out why the present, voluntary system just isn't enough.

The response to two complaints about broken rules and dodgy data in the lobby register confirms the current system is toothless, argues CEO.

CEO turns the spotlight on another of the interest groups operating within the European Parliament.

After a decade of lobby scandals and debate on how to secure transparency and ethics, the European Commission needs to go beyond half measures.

A citizen's tour of corporate power in Brussels 03/09/15

Big money and close ties behind Big Pharma's Brussels lobby efforts – new study

Find out about this exciting new campaign to demand lobby transparency in Brussels and across the EU member states.

The investment bank Goldman Sachs has revised its registration in the EU's lobby transparency register and has substantially increased its declared lobby spend from the 2013 figure of less than €50,000 to €700,000-€799,999 for 2014. This compounds Corporate Europe Observatory's view that Goldman Sachs' original registration was not a full reflection of its EU lobbying activity. Yet despite this under-reporting, for five months the register secretariat took little action and Goldman Sachs was able to secure at least four meetings with top Commission officials.

LobbyControl, CEO and Friends of the Earth Europe have made a formal complaint to the EU lobby register about the entry of Goldman Sachs which the NGOs consider signficantly under-reports its lobby spend.

Learn about the role corporate lobbies have in EU decision-making, how they manage to get what they want and how their activities affect citizens all over Europe.

Corporate Europe Observatory welcomes the announcement by European Commission first vice-president Frans Timmermans today after a college discussion on Commission president Juncker’s Transparency Initiative. It appears that earlier announced transparency obligations on commissioners to publish details of meetings with lobbyists, are now extended to also cover staff in cabinets and directors-general. This is an important step forward in providing greater transparency around the role of lobbying in EU decision-making, but further steps are needed.

CEO just responded to the European Ombudsman’s public consultation on transparency in the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), outlining suggestions for ending the secrecy in the EU-US trade talks.