Lobbycloud, a new website aimed at enhancing transparency of lobbying activities in the European Parliament, was presented today at the re:publica 14 internet conference in Berlin by its developer OpenDataCity. This new tool will allow users to email lobbying documents for publication or upload them directly and anonymously.
The Members of the European Parliament often receive input from lobbyists and this is sometimes directly reflected in the proposals they make. By making the lobbying documents visible, searchable and understandable for citizens, LobbyCloud will enhance informed debate and improve transparency in the shaping of public policy and European Parliament activity. The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament provides significant financial support to the website and invites everyone to join the project. Lobbying transparency is and will continue to be one of the key issues for the Greens in the next parliamentary term.
Green MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht stresses the necessity of this project: "As a parliamentary draftsperson I am keenly aware of the enormous quantity of lobby input on the Data Protection Regulation and the impact it had on the submitted amendments. I strongly believe that transparency of parliamentary activity should be taken one step further and the project we’re launching today is the right tool for this purpose. European citizens have the right to know who is lobbying their representatives."
Green MEP and group spokesperson on economic and financial policy Sven Giegold is hoping for broad participation: "Lobbying transparency is crucial for democracy. However, it was not politically possible to establish binding rules on lobbying transparency within the European institutions. LobbyCloud is an attempt to redress the balance by offering citizens the possibility to reassert their right to transparency in the EU’s political processes. We invite the Brussels’ community to disclose all shady dealings and efforts to influence the EU’s decision-making processes and enable civil society, citizens and the media to play their role in controlling EU politics. LobbyCloud is an open project, where everybody can contribute lobbying documents and use the ones already submitted to analyse their impact on public policy. We want to set an example for every member of the European Parliament and we invite everybody to contribute.”
LobbyCloud project can be accessed at
www.lobbycloud.eu and lobbying documents can be submitted by email at
documents@lobbycloud.eu
The re:publica 14 conference is taking place online here from 17.30 today:
