OUTCOME OF THE FULL REVIEW OF THE EU TRANSPARENCY REGISTER

The current Register was set up jointly by the European Parliament and the European Commission in 2011. While it has always been the Parliament's wish that the register should become compulsory, it has proved difficult to find an adequate legal base in the EU Treaty. For this reason the working group called for a proposal by the Commission to adapt the EU Treaty. Failing this, the Commission should formulate a proposal by 2016 on the basis of article 352 of the EU Treaty, which, however, requires unanimity among the EU member states. In all events, a further review of the "Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission on the transparency register is set for 2017.

Until the transparency register can be made mandatory, incentives should be put in place to make interest groups register voluntarily by limiting certain facilities to those listed only. These incentives include facilitating access to the EP premises, the possibility to be consulted by the Commission as experts or to be heard at EP committee hearings.

The working group also recommended some 30 changes to strengthen and clarify the Interinstitutional Agreement, and made an attempt to find a pragmatic solution for the difficulty of lawyers and other professions subject to confidentiality rules with regards to their clients face for inclusion in the register. Currently, an estimated 75% of all relevant business-entities and around 60% of NGOs operating in Brussels have registered.

Next Steps:

The conclusions andd recommendations of the working group will be presented to the EP, to the Bureau, after which the Committee on Constitutional Affairs will need to examine them. A final proposal will be voted by the full House, if possible before the end of the current legislature.