THE MANDATORY TRANSPARENCY REGISTER INITIATIVE – TOWARDS A BETTER GOVERNANCE OF LOBBYING IN THE EU?

Apstrakt

Lobbying practice is undoubtedly an important part of the decision-making process in the EU and due to that multiple measures are taken in order to create the adequate legal framework to ensure transparency and accountability of the lobbyist’s actions. In view of the author’s intention of assessing the development of the rules governing lobbying as well as the prospects and challenges of the potential transfer to the mandatory register, the scope, disclosure levels and enforcement mechanisms of the lobbying rules introduced so far at the EU level will be compared and analyzed. Even though these rules gradually became more coherent, providing greater transparency and improving the EU lobbying framework, the voluntary character continued to be threat for full transparency and consequently accountability of non-registrants and because of this the newest initiative aims at mandatory registration of those trying to influence the EU institution and policy-making, including the Council for the first time. First challenge concerning the proposed measure, which is discussed, is the issue of the legal basis for legislation and in case of absence of such base, an interinstitutional agreement as a potential appropriate alternative will be examined. Finally, since the mandatory registration would have a significant impact on lobbyists, the content of the existing rules will probably require some adjustments potentially resulting in a narrower scope of the register, more detailed disclosure and stronger enforcement that could lead to a better governance of the EU lobbying, following the example of the USA federal framework.