7/26/2023 0 Comments Meps wake up timeHopefully, this new wake-up call will be the final straw. In the US, for instance, foreign governments and their lobby representatives are required to publish full contracts including finances and work undertaken. Powerful forces are on the move in the EU to improve relations with the oil and gas rich Arab nation, an example of which is the proposal to grant Qatari citizens visa-free travel to the EU, due to Qatar’s new status as an important “economic partner” for the European Union, “in particular in the area of energy”.Ī robust lobby transparency system requires a plethora of well-enforced measures to protect democratic decision-making, most if not all of which are well known to EU parliamentarians and Commission officials, in that they have been proposed before – or they are part of the rulebook elsewhere. And in the case of Qatar the risk has been exacerbated by the current inflation and energy crisis. Leeway for repressive regime lobbying has always been there. In that sense, the current lobbying and bribery scandal is not surprising. A case in point is the current negotiations between the institutions on an “independent ethics body”, which is set to become a futile exercise with little or nothing gained. Yet, little has been achieved, due to the intransigence of politicians and their preference for a largely weak, voluntary and self-policing approach. Since 2015, Corporate Europe Observatory has pushed for tighter rules to prevent repressive regimes from walking the corridors of power in the EU institutions unhindered, often in coalition with many other organisations. It is long past time when the EU institutions in general, and the European Parliament in particular, should face up to the facts: the door to repressive regime lobbying must be closed now, not through panicky interim measures, or on a case by case basis, but through robust, permanent rules to detect and prevent such interference. Earlier this year, bans were imposed on lobbyists working for Russia, a move that should have been taken a long time ago. The arrest of several current and former members of the European Parliament and of people from other organisations in connection with a bribery scandal linked to Qatari regime lobbying (and to Morocco), is another wake-up call.
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