No change to EU lobbying rules

The European Commission is refusing to curb lobbying by tobacco firms within its corridors by not fully applying UN transparency rules, according to an euobserver.com story citing an EU watchdog.

The EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said yesterday that the Brussels-executive ditched her recommendations to publish online all details – including the minutes – of meetings with tobacco lobbyists or their legal representatives.

“This is a missed opportunity by the Juncker Commission to show global leadership in the vital area of tobacco lobbying,” she said in a statement, referring to commission chief, Jean-Claude Juncker.

The UN’s World Health Organization discourages public policy makers from meeting in secret with tobacco firms under its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The Commission’s directorate for health publishes all its meetings and minutes online, but other directorates do not.

However, the Commission says it fully complies with the FCTC.

It says staff regulations, code of conduct rules, access to documents and other internal guidelines are good enough to ensure the integrity of policy and law making.

The euobserver.com piece is at: https://euobserver.com/institutional/132170.