[EU-lobby-data] Decision to be made> Lobbying costs

Fri Nov 30 13:51:08 UTC 2012

Hello everyone,

I'm back :)

I was working today with Friedrich on the data I need (to write the 
blog stories), and we realized there's an issue we should take a 
decision on. When registrants in their declarations of lobbying costs 
give a range (instead of an absolute number), what should we do? Which 
figure should we use for statistics and comparisons?

In the report we made in June, we decided to use an average, because we 
thought it seemed more honest, but actually there are also some 
arguments to use the maximum figure they provide. In any case, we really 
don't know which figure is more close to reality, and of course, it 
changes from case to case, but we need to decide on a criteria to apply 
to everyone.

To sum up, I would say

Arguments to use an average:
- It looks as a less biased approach
- It's more difficult to attack our methodology

Arguments to use the max. figure:
- We have reasons and proof to say lobbying costs are in general 
underestimated
- We will probably get more interesting figures, and considering under 
reporting, probably also closer to reality
- It's a way of pushing for a more clear reporting

What do you think?

Ester