Sunday 2 August 2009

Back

I am back, and comments for this blog are switched on again.

Yet, I am still quite busy, so I might not write something until the middle of the week. If I write something "substantial" before, it'll rather be on Twitter than here.

Anything I should write about when I'll have time?

2 comments:

unregistered advisor said...

I'd be very interested to hear your unbiased opinion about the REAL need for a lobbyist register.. especially a voluntary one, and more specifically what the point if of "financial disclosure". THe whole issue between Friend of the Earth and CEFIC is laughable....

Julien Frisch said...

My unbiased opinion (which sounds like a nice oxymoron to me :-) ) is that a voluntary register is a nice little toy, not more and not less.

I think that there should be a mandatory register - publicly available and including financial data - for any lobbyist who wants to interact with an EU institution and its officials. Officials should then refrain from interacting with any non-registered lobbyist.

I see this unchecked voluntary register more as a test range, a possibility to exert some public pressure for transparency. Its real sense remains still rather unclear to me.