| Rumours are swirling that the European Commission is close to tabling a new law that targets lobbying and Russian and Chinese influence as part of its ‘Defence of Democracy’ programme. We hear the draft bill is so hush-hush that the select few lucky enough to read its latest version must do so in a monitored reading room and take no notes or pictures. The Commission denies that it is preparing a bill modelled on the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act. The danger, several insiders told Euractiv, is that by focusing on the geopolitics of Russian and Chinese influence, the new law misses the wider opportunity to increase the transparency of the links foreign governments, politicians, and companies establish with lobbyists and EU lawmakers. Corruption has existed for as long as humanity has had government. What EU lawmakers can and should do is make it harder. As a step in the right direction, it appears that some lessons from the recent Qatargate scandal – though not all – have been learned.
Last week, EU parliamentarians agreed to tighten their internal rules on interest groups, lobbying by former MEPs, and financial disclosure of any side jobs they have worth €5,000 a year or more. These are significant steps but hardly radical: The European Parliament’s transparency rules were far too lax for too long. | 