Verheugen: EU Needs More Transparency on Origins of Legislation
 Verheugen addresses the Better Regulation 2008 Conference. |
By Raymond Frenken
BRUSSELS (EUX.TV) — Gunter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission, has said he is “shocked” by discovering that the European Union’s legislative process is often abused by special interest groups and companies who falsely claim to represent the public interest.
Verheugen said that in the future the EU needs to create more transparency on the origins of legislation, for example by including a special paragraph on top of every proposal under discussion that explains by whom it was initiated and why.
The Commissioner made his comments during a conference on better regulation that was organized on Wednesday by EIPA, the European Institute of Public Administration, and the Bertelsmann Foundation.
“What really shocked me that during the process I’ve done in recent years, I’ve found that in many cases, European legislation is triggered by interest groups,” said Verheugen.
“Simply the result of pressure from one interest group, is presented as something that is important for the public but it is not. In reality it is the interest of one particular group, even one particular company.”
Watch the conference videos here:
“A vicious game”
Verheugen made his comments after Monique Goyens, Director-General of BEUC, the European consumers association, told the conference how difficult it was especially for smaller, non-corporate lobby organizations, to influence legislation that is being prepared by the Commission.
In the EU, it’s the Commission that initiatives legal proposals. After it presents an official paper, these proposals are discussed at the European Parliament, which can only introduce amendments. After adoption by the parliament, proposals need to be signed off by the European Council, where member states meet face-to-face, before it becomes EU law.
“If you respect the real official consultation procedures, you have to wait for a proposal to get out of the Commission in order to be able to influence it,” said Goyens. “But this is not the case in the real life of the lobbyist. The real game – some sort of a vicious game – is to be the first one to have it. Even before it gets out of mind of the official. Only then you are really able to effectively influence the decision-making process. Once it gets official, it’s too late to influence anyway.”
At the Better Regulation 2008 conference, it became clear that there are still issues with transparency, access to documents and with consultation procedures that keep procedures from effectively representing the public interest.
“We need to make as early as possible in the process open who creates input in the process but also to open that process early on so that at the end of the day, not only those that are very powerful have the means to influence,” said Johannes Meier, boardmember of the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
“We need more transparency on the process but also create easier means of access to provide input in the process.”
“The Jacques Delors heritage”
Verheugen said that it proves difficult to change attitudes of EU officials. He said many of them are still locked into a mode of thinking inspired during the 1980s by former Commission President Jacques Delors, whose Commission significantly boosted the European influence over national legislation in the EU’s member states.
“There is a way of thinking in the institutions that Europe, the more regulation, the more rules you have, the more Europe you have,” said Verheugen. “I call that the Jacques Delors heritage… keep the machine running… oil the machinery… give the legislators work to do… keep the process running… They’re seeing European integration as a process, and the process is, making rules.
“It’s very difficult to explain to officials who have the understanding that what they are doing is indeed an important contribution for European integration… to explain them that sometimes, less is more.
It’s a mistake to believe that you have more Europe if we have more regulation,” said Verheugen.
