Transparency tussles

Complaints and accusations in the world of lobbying.

In the world of Brussels lobbying, it is sometimes hard to differentiate the poachers from the gamekeepers.

The European Public Affairs Consultancies Association (EPACA) has accused Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) of a lack of transparency and breaching the code of conduct for lobbyists. CEO is one of the member organisations of the ALTER-EU coalition campaigning for more transparency.

Burson-Marsteller, a public affairs company, received a call from David Leloup asking for information about the company’s work for the Bulgarian government of Sergei Stanishev in 2008. Leloup described himself as a journalist. When asked what news organisation he was working for, Leloup said that he was a freelance journalist working for CEO two days a week.

EPACA has filed a formal complaint to the European Commission using the same complaints procedure that ALTER-EU has used to draw attention to consultancies and trade associations’ lack of transparency and failure to disclose full information.

José Lalloum, EPACA chairman, said: “The least you would expect from an organisation campaigning for transparency is that they behave transparently.”

Olivier Hoedeman of CEO told European Voice that CEO was engaged in “investigative journalism” as part of its activities as a public policy watchdog and that this was common for watchdogs. He said that Leloup had asked a legitimate question (as a journalist) and did not hide who he was working for when asked.

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Hoedeman said that, rather than making accusations against CEO, EPACA should “get its own house in order”, pointing out that 11 of 35 EPACA member firms are not on the Commission’s register.