Good morning,
Huawei lobbyists have been banned from entering the European Commission following recent allegations of bribery. However, members of 22 umbrella associations, such as DigitalEurope or BusinessEurope, to which the Chinese giant belongs, will still have access. A commission spokesperson yesterday clarified that banning access to these big lobby firms would not be “practical” or “possible”. Instead, holding or cancelling a meeting with one of these organisations, which could be lobbying on behalf of Huawei, will be made on a case-by-case basis.
But the commission has not specified who is responsible for evaluating potential risks or what constitutes sufficient grounds to cancel a meeting, raising further concerns over the consistency of transparency and lobbying rules within the institution.
“The decision to suspend Huawei lobbyists’ access is good, but more needs to be done,” a group of MEPs said in a letter sent to the commission on 20 March. They called for a ban on the use of Huawei devices in any commission or EU-related applications, requested information on former commission staff who have gone on to work for Huawei, and urged the closing of loopholes in the EU transparency register. The commission has yet to respond.
Although the EU parliament and the commission have both banned access to Huawei lobbyists, scandals such as Qatargate, Huawei bribery allegations and other so-called 'revolving door' cases still raise questions about the effectiveness of the EU's lobbying and transparency rules, which are widely seen as clunky and ineffective, given the many loopholes flagged by EU auditors and the EU ombudsman in the past. A revision of the Transparency Register is expected by July, but don’t put your hopes up; it is likely to be like the EU ethics body, something that sounds great but ends up being toothless and lacking real impact.
- Elena Sánchez Nicolás, editor-in-chief
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