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Juncker prepares for office

This month, the European Parliament voted by a comfortable majority – 422 in favour to 250 against – to endorse former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the next President of the European Commission. This is a position of considerable influence, as the Commission has the exclusive right to propose new policy and law in most areas of EU activity and controls the lion’s share of the Union’s multi-billion euro annual budget. From November until the end of 2019, Mr. Juncker will have responsibility of the overall political direction in which the Commission will try to take the EU.

Addressing MEPs before the vote, Mr. Juncker set out his work programme for the next five years. The immediate focus will be on policies to boost youth employment and using the European Investment Bank to invest up to €300 billion in the EU’s businesses, infrastructure and tackling climate change. The potential of the digital economy also featured prominently, in particular the impact of updating EU laws on both copyright and data protection.

Towards a mandatory EU Transparency Register

However, of particular interest for many public affairs professionals will be Mr. Juncker’s view on the EU’s transparency register for lobbyists and interests groups. He told MEPs that he will table a proposal for a “mandatory lobby register” that covers the European Commission, Parliament and Council – the EU’s main institutions in making European law. The EU’s current Transparency Register is entirely voluntarily and does not cover the Council, the body where the EU’s national governments meet and arguably the EU’s most powerful institution.

Juncker’s commitment is likely to provide the momentum needed to formally start the process to make the register mandatory. Last December, the European Parliament’s in-house lawyers already issued an internal assessment saying that a mandatory register could be given a secure legal footing within the EU Treaties, making it safe from legal challenges by lobbyists.

In practical terms, a mandatory register would make little difference for those organisations who have already listed themselves in the current register but it has the potential to shine a light on the activities of those who have so far refused to do so – with big law firms in Brussels already in the sights of transparency campaigners.

Good intentions

Nothing, however, is yet set in stone. Juncker will first have to deliver on his commitments and table a formal legislative proposal, which is not expected before late 2015. The proposal will also have to be agreed jointly by the Parliament and the Member States (with each country likely to wield a veto), setting the stage for long and arduous negotiations that could last years.

Will all meetings with lobbyists have to be published? Will organisations that do not sign the new register be refused access to EU buildings and formal meetings? What measures will be put in place to stop MEPs or Member State diplomats from meeting lobbyists in private? All these questions and more will need to be answered.

A mandatory lobbyists’ register for the EU is on the radar, but certainly not around the corner.