Promoting greater transparency in official decision-making and greater regulation of lobbyists,

Posted by Bronwen Maher on September 27, 2011 at 04:47 PM

Speech presented at the conference: “Mad Medicine – Do financial conflicts of interest drive you crazy?”, held on Saturday 24 September 2011 in UCC, and organised by Health Action International Europe and the Critical Voices Network Ireland

 

Introduction- Lobbying in Brussels

"When I was first elected to the European Parliament, two years ago at this point, there were many issues that I kept coming back to- how to promote my ideas for mental health? How to be effective on both a European and local level? How best to keep connected with my constituents? - These were some of the questions I worked to resolve at the beginning of my term.

 

As with all walks of life however, the devil is often in the detail. I quickly found that in addition to these goals, and to have any hope of achieving them, I also had to become intimately acquainted with the unique Brussels culture and operational nuances of being an MEP.

 

The role of lobbying and transparency was one these nuances that hit me from very early on in my term. Over past two years, as well attempting to make a legislative impact in Brussels, and to maintain the connection with local issues at home, I have also been attempting to address this issue of lobbying and transparency from a public representative's point of view.

 

The role of lobbying

When attempted to address this issue- as I mentioned- one has to first become intimately acquainted with it, so what is the role of lobbying?

 

Lobbying is a well-known element of any politician's life, hardly encouraged by legislators or the public, but an acknowledged part of the democratic process that has the capacity to play a very necessary role.

 

It is a mistake to take an extreme view on lobbying, one of 'right or wrong'- or that there should be no lobbying at all of public representatives- and when attempting to address the issue and its current problems, it is also important to acknowledge from the beginning what a constructive role lobbying can play.

 

Why is lobbying important? -

1. Many companies, while profit driven, also act in the public good, and so their view is often important when drafting legislation. Drug companies, who find the treatments for many diseases, for example.

2. Specialised companies can also offer essential resources and expertise that the majority of the politicians would not have the time or funding to match. For example, I worked with the European Zoo Association on a very important piece of legislation.

3. Many 'lobbyists' are also public-interest groups, such as NGOs, charities or environmental groups. These groups also try to influence legislation, but no-one would propose restricting their access to the European Parliament.

 

Even if we attempted to keep all so-called 'lobby groups' out of public institutions, it is very difficult to find a definition of what such a group is. Who, for example, would list a group of patients' representatives as a lobby group? There would no doubt be public outcry if such a group was restricted access to their public representatives, but who do these groups represent? While many are acting solely in the interest of patients, many are also funded by industry organisations, simply because they find it hard to get funding elsewhere. Should these groups have their access restricted? Unfortunately that would include a majority of patients groups. The real issue is about such groups being honest and transparent about where they get their funding from, and that is something that I will touch on later on.

 

 

The influence of lobbying

However, the influence of lobbying is a growing concern- In Brussels right now there are around 15,000 lobbyists in operation-that's about 20 lobbyists for each MEP.

 

Almost every European industry- right down to the European Bottled Watercooler Association- has an office in Brussels, lobbying for its position in the EU. Other organisations would employ one of the influential public relations companies which operate in Brussels to lobby EU officials or to provide their clients with intelligence and strategic advice.

 

I found that it became necessary to look at exactly who was behind each event I attended, who was paying for each 'free lunch'.

 

It became clear that there was often an agenda or private interests behind most information…but the point to remember is that people have a right to do that, to make their position known to elected representatives. It's just that the process of how they do it that needs to be quite sharply resolved.

 

 

Flaws in the lobbying sector

So, while an effective and transparent lobbying sector could play an important role in effective government, unfortunately there are number of inherent problems with lobbying as it is. These undermine this process and can give both lobbyists and politicians a bad name. In order to address these problems, we must first be fully aware of them.

 

One of the principle problems with lobbying is the so-called "revolving door" culture, whereby former officials, MEPs and even Commissioners go straight from being a legislator to acting on behalf of industry, often with the use of their knowledge from working at the heart of the EU.

 

This problem can also extend to MEPs, with up to 1 in 7 Parliamentarians- that's over 100 altogether- having a second job outside the Parliament that might cause a conflict of interest with their role as an MEP.

 

 

What we are working towards

These problems need to be addressed, so what improvements are we looking for in the field of lobbying?

 

It's clear that important steps need to be taken, in order to make the industry fairer and more closely linked in the public interest. In order to achieve this, I would propose three approaches-

1. One based on a shift towards absolute transparency.

2. Another based on a change in the culture of politicians.

3. Finally we need rules and regulations from lawmakers in order to keep a close eye on this industry.

 

The onus must be on the politician to meet only with lobbyists who can provide constructive assistance, and whose counsel will act in the public good. As well as taking responsibility for their actions, politicians must qualify this by being completely transparent about which lobbyists they are meeting. This includes publishing all names and companies that a politician meets, in their capacity as the bridge between the public that they represent and industry.

 

- Incidentally, if you look at my website, nessachilders.ie, you will find a full list of all organisations I have met with, as well as details regarding my pay and expense, my staff, and any other aspects of my political life that the public might like to know. I believe this approach is centrally important as a politician, and that honesty and transparency constitute the very beginning of a relationship between constituents and their representatives.

 

With regard to rules and regulations, we need a full mandatory register of lobbyists in Brussels, so the public know who is operating around the European institutions. There should also be relevant codes of conduct and ethical standards for politicians which, if unmet, will result in serious consequences for the representative.

 

Both of these goals lead into a wider effort towards complete and utter transparency, regarding everything a politician does in their public life, and also for private organisations, if they wish to interact with elected representatives.

 

This transparency must also extend to patients groups, which need to be completely up front about where their funding is coming from and what influence is represented by those funds. Often times I have to go on an almost archaeological dig of such a group, to find out who is funding them. This situation isn't good enough and again the emphasis should be on the group to be transparent. Are there other means of funding for patient groups that wouldn't compromise them? It's hard to see that from here, but maybe it's also something we need to look into.

 

 

What we are doing to increase transparency

These are our goals- transparency, responsibility, legislation. How do we achieve them? As I mentioned previously, I recognised that this was an important issue at the beginning of my term, and I have worked over the past two years, along with my European colleagues, to resolve this issue. So what have we achieved?

-The European Commission

Last April the European Commission announced new rules to address the 'revolving door' situation, whereby former Commissioners move into lobbying jobs related to their former positions soon after stepping down.

This move by the Commission came after I, and others, had investigated and flagged several questionable new positions taken up by Charlie McCreevy, who until 2010 was the EU's Commissioner for the Internal Market. His positions included a post as a director at Ryanair, and a lucrative post at a UK-based investment bank- both of which were relevant to his former position, and were taken up in the twelve months after he had left the Commission.

When I looked into this- and publicised the Investment Bank case in particular- it was seen to be a serious breach of Commission rules. As a result, Mr. McCreevy stepped down from this position.

The new Commission rules should prevent further cases like this. They cover areas such conflicts of interest, gifts and the exclusion of hiring spouses and family members. While there is still a lot to do in this area, these measures are a welcome step forward.

-The European Parliament

Secondly, in the European Parliament, a new 'Code of Conduct' for MEPs is being introduced. This will put a ban on secondary lobbying jobs for MEPs, and oblige MEPs to report on external income. The Code will also introduce stronger sanctions and a cooling off period for MEPs, if necessary.

 

These steps will also go some way towards reforming the political culture around lobbying, as the expenses scandal has in Britain. It is no longer acceptable to have closed door or backroom meetings with industry representatives, and there is a greater onus on transparency in all aspects of political life.

 

-Transparency Register

The third necessary step has seen the EU merge the transparency registers of the European Commission and Parliament, so that we now have a joint transparency register for the two institutions. This means that we can swap details and intelligence on what groups are working to influence European legislation. This is important because there were previously two separate registers for the two institutions, which proved a logistical nightmare for those who attempted to monitor lobbying.

 

The new system means that an organisation must be registered in order to gain an access badge to the European Parliament. This should act as a powerful incentive to join the register for those who are attempting to gain access to public representatives.

 

EMEA case

The European Parliament is also taking steps to reform European agencies. In light of today's seminar, one important example of this relates to recent action taken against the European Medicines Agency.

 

Earlier this year, the European Parliament’s committee on budgetary control issued a report over the Agency’s poor handling of conflicts of interest.

 

It questioned the independence of the Agency’s experts, who were involved in the evaluation of various medicines, and sought an explanation over why it took a decade to ban the slimming drug Mediator after being first alerted to dangerous side effects.

 

The European Parliament is the EU budget discharge authority. Once annual accounts are audited and finalized, Parliament decides whether or not to grant a discharge to the Commission and other EU bodies.

 

The Parliament in this case decided to postpone granting a budget discharge to EMEA.

 

The Agency responded back to the parliament over the summer, and after talking to my colleagues on the budgetary control committee, there is a feeling that the discharge will now be granted.

 

Some of the steps which EMEA claim to have taken are as follows:

 

• Starting the adoption of an action plan to remedy the shortcomings in the procurement procedures.

 

• Launched a new online Declaration of Interests form which all experts were requested to complete.

 

• The verification of the effective use of the existing procedures, regarding conflicts of interest for its staff and experts.

 

• The Agency has promised to strengthen its compliance with its own Code of Conduct, by setting out principles and guidance on independence of the Agency’s staff.

 

• The Agency has stated its intention to apply from 2010 a more risk-based approach and focusing checks on staff who declare interests.

 

There is clearly a need for close monitoring and follow up with EMEA, to make sure that the European Parliament's concerns are addressed.

 

The report on this issue will come back to the budgetary control committee on Oct 3rd. MEPs will then decide their stance, with the Parliament's viewpoint coming after that a number of weeks later.

CONCLUSION

The emphasis, as I have been saying throughout this speech, is on three interdependent factors- transparency, a culture of responsibility, and legislative efforts to monitor this sector. Each feeds off and affects one another, and with all three together we can begin to have a transparent, constructive culture of industry representation in the EU.

 

Lobbyists can have considerable influence on legislation, in particular on proposals of a technical nature... But their transparency is too deficient in comparison to the impact of their activities.

 

We must increase openness and accessibility of EU institutions, raise awareness over the use of the EU budget and make the Union’s institutions more accountable to the public with the intention to promote transparency in EU policy-making.

 

My feeling now is that lobbying is becoming more transparent. We do now have an EU register. Many politicians, like myself, publicly declare when they've met with industry representatives. The EU, as with the European Medicines Agency and the new laws for Commissioners, is making clear and positive efforts to increase transparency across the board.

 

The onus is now on us as politicians, groups such as many here today, and indeed the public, whose collective pressure is more powerful than any other tool in democratic politics, to ensure that this process continues.

 

Nessa Childers MEP

 

 

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