[open-government] Politics for People campaign

[Julia Keserű]

Great campaign from our friends at ALTER-EU. Those of you from the EU: it
is time to take action now and get in touch with your MEPs!

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/04/17/upcoming-eu-elections-bringing-undue-influence-into-the-spotlight-again/

Upcoming EU elections bringing undue influence into the spotlight
again<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/04/17/upcoming-eu-elections-bringing-undue-influence-into-the-spotlight-again/>
by Júlia Keserű <http://sunlightfoundation.com/team/jkeseru/>

   - policy <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/policy/>

APRIL 17, 2014, 11:59 A.M.

A few days ago, a broader coalition of European civil society
organizations<http://www.alter-eu.org/> launched
a campaign <http://politicsforpeople.eu/> to make some noise around the
influence of big businesses on EU institutions. The timing seems perfect as
the upcoming EU elections <http://www.elections2014.eu/en> could create
some more serious buy-in from candidates for an effective lobbyist
registry<http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/info/homePage.do>.
Fixing the current system — which is broken in so many
ways<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/11/08/the-eu-lobbyist-register-needs-fixing/>
—
has been on the table for quite a while
now<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/12/19/eu-fails-to-produce-clear-recommendations-on-lobbying-transparency/>,
without any success<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2014/03/05/in-uk-and-eu-lobbying-reform-efforts-come-up-short/>
.
[image: PfP]Photo credit: Politics for People

So what's the problem? As a new study
shows<http://corporateeurope.org/financial-lobby/2014/04/fire-power-financial-lobby>,
a vast majority of banks and financial lobby groups working to influence EU
banking regulations are not registered within the EU's volunteer lobbyist
system, and other industries are notoriously opaque too. As a result, EU
citizens have no idea how many laws that affect their lives directly have
the fingerprints <http://www.alter-eu.org/press-releases/2014/04/15> of
lobbyists all over them – from climate to public health to data protection
– or how their MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) are influenced by
the agenda of big business.

The new Politics for People website <http://politicsforpeople.eu/> –
launched as the centerpiece of the broader civic campaign – provides an
easy way for EU citizens to directly contact their MEPs through social
media channels. People can urge their politicians running for re-election
to sign a pledge <http://politicsforpeople.eu/en/solution/>, and support
the interest of the broader public as opposed to the voice of those with
money. The website also features case studies explaining how excessive
industry lobbying impacts upon the daily lives of ordinary EU citizens, and
how the "fire power" of big business can impede meaningful reform.

A lot of prominent
MEPs<https://twitter.com/ALTEREU/status/456706788537430016> have
already signed the pledge, which is a truly encouraging sign. Two days ago,
the European Parliament issued a
resolution<http://corporateeurope.org/pressreleases/2014/04/parliament-issues-strong-call-eu-lobby-transparency-register-become-mandatory>
upon
the European Commission (the executive body of the European Union) to
prepare a legislative proposal for a mandatory register by 2016. It also
asks the Commission to, in the meantime, introduce ambitious measures to
encourage lobbyists to join the register — for instance, by limiting the
number of meetings with unregistered lobbyists.

For our friends living across the pond: you can take
action<http://politicsforpeople.eu/>
 now!
Tags:

   - Lobbying <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/Lobbying/>
   - Lobbyist <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/Lobbyist/>
   - European Parliament<http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/European-Parliament/>
   - international <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/international/>
   - EU <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/eu/>
   - Europe <http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/tag/europe/>


-- 
Júlia Keserű
International Policy Manager

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
(1) 202-742-1520 *246

[image: Sunlight Foundation] <http://sunlightfoundation.com/> [image:
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Sunlight Foundation on Twitter] <http://twitter.com/sunfoundation>[image:
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