As Austria prepares to introduce a compulsory register for lobbyists in the wake of an MEP corruption scandal, criticism is being levelled here at Brussels for its recent half-hearted efforts to put its own house in order. Both Brussels and Vienna were stung into action after journalists from the Sunday Times newspaper in the UK, posing as lobbyists, caught members of the European Parliament (EP) accepting money in return for introducing amendments to EU legislation. Austria’s former interior minister, Ernst Strasser, was one of the MEPs forced to resign as a result.
The new Austrian legislation is likely to come into force in January. As well as a detailed register, there will be a new code of conduct for lobbyists, with substantial fines for inaccurate or incomplete registration or breaches of the code. Additional sanctions will include temporary removal or complete exclusion from the register. In contrast, the new joint register for the EP and European Commission, announced in June, remains voluntary, although non-registered lobbyists will be denied passes to the EP.
While the cash-for-amendments scandal which broke last March was not the first time Brussels’ lobby system has hit the headlines, Strasser’s shocking statement “Of course I am a lobbyist” tarnished the reputations of both the EP and Austria’s political elite. The Austrian press reported extensively on his resignation, and EP President Jerzy Buzek pledged a policy of zero tolerance towards such behaviour. In Vienna, the president of the National Parliament, Barbara Prammer, said the episode raised questions about the way Austria’s parliament dealt with lobbying.
In Austria, the vast majority of members of parliament have more than one job (in fact, only 43 out of 183 MPs don’t have a second job) but they only have to make a declaration of interest if their second income amounts to €1,142 per month. Prammer wanted Austria to copy the German model, with second incomes categorised to show earnings between €1,000 and €3,000 per month, €3,000-€7,000 or more than €7,000.
Taking a broader perspective, one can of course understand that parliamentarians do have to balance competing interests. MEPs, for example, have a tripartite role. At times they represent a national constituency; at other times they play a partisan ‘European’ role, while individual MEPs have special interests of their own. At all times, however, they must keep their eye on the common good and know exactly what ‘special interests’ other people are representing – hence the need for greater transparency.
There may well be good reasons for resisting mandatory, pan-European regulation of lobbyists (apparently there is no legal basis for this at the European level) but the credibility of Brussels’ new joint register cannot be established without a clear, compulsory approach. Until the Commission and the EP grasp this nettle, and introduce tougher rules on ethics and conflicts of interest, their ability to shape and control MEPs’ behaviour towards lobbyists will remain weak.