Brussels, 15 July 2014 - Access Info Europe as part of ALTER-EU is calling upon Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to ensure that improvements in the area of lobby transparency, conflicts of interest, and ethics are placed high on the agenda of the new European Commission, as they prepare to quiz its president-elect Jean-Claude Juncker today. During the recent EU elections, 177 elected MEPs signed ALTER-EU's Politics for People pledge in which they committed to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business” upon entering office. “Our opinion poll showed 73% of

Madrid, 26 June 2014 - The book 'El lobby en España. ¿asignatura pendiente?' ('Lobbying in Spain, a pending issue?') – developed by the Foro Empresarial APRI and published by Algón Editores – will be presented today in the Political and Constitutional Studies Centre in Madrid. Access Info Europe collaborated in the book with a chapter about revolving doors. It is a collective work that analyses the role played by lobbies, the needs they represent, the public costs that their absence would carry, the existing alternatives for their regulation, and the effects caused by the lack of it; it is a

Madrid, 21 May 2014 – The campaign to get future members of the European Parliament to commit to support the regulation and transparency of lobbying has been a huge success in Spain with 116 MEP candidates signing the pledge to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business”. This number of signatories in Spain is the third highest in Europe, reaching 10% of the total of 1100 MEP candidates who signed the “Politics for People” pledge. The two countries with more MEP candidate pledges are Germany (250) and Austria (157). The pledge campaign

Madrid, 12 May – To encourage candidates in the European Parliament elections to pledge to defend the public interest against excessive private-interest lobbying, the Politics for People campaign is launching #TweetYourCandidate Day on Wednesday 14 May 2014. At the time of writing, over 970 candidates to the European Parliament have signed the pledge – but there are still many more who have yet to do so! All you need to do is to send a tweet to a not-yet-signed candidate asking them to pledge to stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business.

Madrid, miércoles 24 de abril 2014 - Su apoyo a un registro de lobby en la Unión Europea ha sido el mensaje de los candidatos al Parlamento Europeo en el debate abierto sobre transparencia y regulación del lobby celebrado en Madrid ayer, día 23 de abril, por Access Info Europe. Este evento dió una oportunidad única a los ciudadanos para hacer preguntas directamente a los candidatos, bien de manera presencial o bien a través de Twitter. Las respuestas demostaron las diferencias de opinión entre los candidatos veteranos, Salvador Garriga (PP) y Enrique Guerrero (PSOE), ambos eurodiputados en activo, y los

Parliament issues strong call for EU lobby transparency register to become mandatory » Strongly-worded resolution first shot in battle with Commission over weak voluntary register Brussels, 15 April 2014 – The report approved by MEPs today gives an important signal to the European Commission that a far more ambitious approach is needed to secure genuine lobby transparency in the EU. The European Parliament resolution makes a clear and explicit call upon the Commission to prepare a legislative proposal for a mandatory register, setting a deadline of 2016. It also asks the Commission to, in the meantime, introduce ambitious measures to

Over 40 MEPs from across the political spectrum pledge to stand-up for citizens and democracy against excessive corporate lobbying Madrid/Brussels, 15 April 2014 – Today, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), AK EUROPA (Brussels office of the Austrian Chamber of Labour) & ÖGB Europabüro (Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation), together with a broad coalition of civil society organisations from across Europe, are launching their campaign to urge candidates for the upcoming European elections to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business”. [1] Prominent

“Don’t go through the revolving door”, transparency campaigners tell EU Commissioners Brussels, 10 March 2014 – European Commissioners have been reminded of the need to avoid conflicts of interest which undermine public trust in EU policy-making as they near the end of their term in office. The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) [1], of which Access Info Europe is a Steering Committee member, has sent individual letters to every serving European Commissioner to remind them of their responsibilities under the revolving door rules. [2]

Madrid, 5 February 2014 – Just as Spain makes its first steps towards regulating lobby activities, Access Info Europe CECU, CIECODE-Proyecto Avizor, La Fundación Ciudadana Civio, Open Kratio y Qué hacen los Diputados have warned of the need to consult civil society, and base any future regulation on advanced international standards in order to meet this new challenge for transparency. On 12 February, a Spanish Parliamentary Commission will decide whether lobbying is to be regulated or not[1]. The civil society organisations believe that in order to follow decision-making processes and ensure that decisions are made in the public interest, greater