EU commission proposes tougher lobbying rules

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed stricter rules on lobby groups in order to rebuild trust in European Union (EU) law-making.

The Commission has proposed a mandatory transparency register, which covers the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission. That means lobbyists have to publicly register their activities.

"Citizens have the right to know who tries to influence EU law-making. We propose a simple rule: no meeting with decision-makers without prior registration. Through the registry, the public will see who is lobbying, who they represent and how much they spend," First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said in a statement.

The new rules cover all activities carried out with the objective of influencing law-making and policy implementation processes of EU institutions. Endit