Transparency Register: Negotiations begin on a mandatory Register for the 3 EU Institutions

Political negotiators from the Parliament, Council and Commission met on Monday evening to discuss how to strengthen the EU Transparency Register.

The Commission’s proposals would make it mandatory for interest representatives to sign up to the Register and abide by its Code of Conduct if they wish to seek to influence policy-making, for example by ensuring that meetings with decision-makers and access to EU buildings are subject to interest representatives fulfilling that condition. First Vice-President Timmermans, leading the negotiations for the Commission, said after the meeting: “Citizens expect to know who is influencing decision-makers in Brussels. We need a major step forward towards more transparency on who lobbies the EU institutions. Tonight we had a useful exchange of views, but there is still quite some way to go. We agreed to continue our work.” The 3 institutions agreed last night on the next steps for the negotiations, including a commitment to ensure that the process is highly transparent. The Joint Statement issued by the 3 institutions after the meeting can be found here.