Call for stricter lobby rules after Dalli Scandal Brussels, 5 November 2012 – Civil society groups have today written to the European Commission President urging him to end the secrecy around the resignation of the former Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli [1]. Campaign groups in the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) call on President Barroso to introduce stricter transparency and ethics rules to curb the privileged access of lobbyists to EU decision-making [2].

The poor Transparency Register Brussels, 27 September 2012 – The quality of the EU Transparency Register is questionable, with a number of significant blind-spots in relation to the lobbying activities of major corporations, consultancies, law firms and trade associations.- Many of those who are the biggest spenders on EU lobbying according to the register, are in fact very minor players or may not even be lobbying at all; – There appears to be widespread under-reporting by many large lobbying entities; – Law firms continue to evade disclosure; – Many registrants have taken a very lax approach to the accuracy, quantity

The corporate-dominated EU Brussels, 25 September 2012 – A new report examines the composition of expert and advisory groups for DG Enterprise and Industry. This new research carried out by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) was launched at a joint event with the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour.

A video on the balance of expert groups Brussels, 17 September 2012 – Exclusive footage filmed for Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) – a steering committee member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) – reveals how corporate lobbyists target the European Commission’s advisory groups in order to influence the legislative process at the earliest stage.

Taller sobre el lobby ciudadano y la regulación de los grupos de presión Access Info organiza un taller sobre el lobby ciudadano y la regulación de los grupos de presión, en Navacerrada, cerca de Madrid los días 3 (bienvenida) y 4 de septiembre. El lobby ciudadano La mala reputación del lobby es el resultado del frecuente coqueteo entre poderes políticos y poderes económicos que atenta a la democracia representativa. Sin embargo, el lobby está al alcance de todos y es un concepto clave a la hora de devolver al ciudadano, el protagonismo en la democracia. El taller propone buscar soluciones

Civil society demands a more transparent EU lobby register Madrid/Brussels, 23 July 2012 – Civil society organisations are fast making their opinions known on the EU’s one-year-old transparency register, calling for improvements to the information disclosed by interest groups so that citizens are able to identify who is lobbying the EU for what, and with what levels of success.

MEPs declarations of interests lack detail and rigor Brussels, 19 July 2012 – An analysis of the declarations of interest of the 754 sitting MEPs found several issues with regards to their declarations that prevent citizens from having a full picture about the outside activities and potential conflicts of interests of Members of the European Parliament. The report, researched by ALTER EU member Friends of the Earth Europe reveals that:

The Brussels Business – Who Runs the European Union? Brussels, 19 April 2012 – The Brussels Business Movie. A new movie, recently launched in Brussels puts the spotlight on the power of the lobbying industry in Brussels. Here’s how the film-makers introduce “The Brussels Business” movie: “The film dives into the shadowy world of lobbying, the secretive networks of power and big business influence on EU-policy-making in Brussels. It tells the non-official version of the European Integration since the 1980s, the story of the neoliberal take-over in European politics. At a time when Europe is facing a deep crisis that

Euro-Just lobbies Council for Special Secrecy Exclusion Brussels, 12 April 2012 – A leaked document dated 12 April 2012 has revealed that EuroJust, the EU’s judicial cooperation body, attended the last Council meeting to argue for special language to exclude it from the future access to documents rules. According to the text passed to Access Info Europe, EuroJust is arguing that it is should only covered by Regulation 1049 when exercising administrative functions, and that all judicial documents be excluded from public access.