In der Dezember-Ausgabe von Public Affairs News schreibt Erik Wesselius vom Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), dass die Ablehnung obligatorischer Transparenzvorschriften die Glaubwürdigkeit von PA-Beratungsfirmen untergräbt.
In this article, Erik Wesselius reacts to EPACA’s accusation in the October 2005 edition of Public Affairs News that the CEO campaign on lobbying transparency involved „significant distortions of the truth“.
According to Erik Wesselius, the accusations are simply not substantiated. EPACA, he writes, „did not give one single example“. „As we have done in the past, we invite those making allegations to detail them and we will, if appropriate, make any corrections,“ writes Wesselius. „We stand 100 per cent behind all our publications and invite everyone to visit our website and judge for themselves,“ he adds.
Turning to the substance of the PA transparency debate, Wesselius says EPACA’s rejection of transparency obligations is only undermining its own credibility. Brussels consultancies, he argues, could learn from their colleagues in Washington and Ottawa who have „absolutely no problems complying with the US and Canadian lobbying transparency rules“.
Although he welcomes EPACA’s self-regulatory code of conduct to improve professional ethics, Wesselius argues this can „never be an argument against an EU lobbying disclosure system“. EPACA, he points out, omit to say that their self-regulatory code of conduct „lacks any form of external transparency obligations“.
According to Wesselius, „an online EU lobbying database, allowing citizens an insight into who lobbies on which issues, and on whose behalf, could help to improve the confidence and engagement of EU citizens with the EU institutions“.
Click here to read the full article published in Public Affairs News December edition