Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-10-Speech-2-581-000"
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"en.20110510.64.2-581-000"2
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"Mr President, I think Mr Weber rightly said that the transparency register being jointly managed is something to be proud of because, with the exception of the United States or Canada, I do not know of any other place outside the European Union where such a lobbies’ register with such parameters as we are going to establish is functioning. Here I am also referring to Member State capitals.
The question that was raised by several speakers, the first being Mr Groote and then Mr Häfner, concerned the mandatory register. We, in the working group, are discussing this issue at great length. The problem is that currently we do not see the legal basis that allows us to oblige companies, citizens or interest representatives to register in order to exercise their profession.
We, as an EU administration, cannot refuse to deal with such an entity or entities on this basis. Therefore we have been looking for ways in which we can turn to the positive motivation of companies, organisations and lobbies to register. I think we achieved a lot because, with the agreement of Parliament, we are actually turning this system into a mandatory one. With our joint actions, together with the Council, we will increase the reputation and pressure so much that we will see in the next two years how this is to work and it will give us additional experience to have a high-quality review and we will see how we can improve the working of the system further.
The calls for appropriate verification as regards financing the activities of those who register: here I can assure you that the Commission is already performing random checks on all the registrants that are already in the register and I am sure that these activities will even increase once we manage the register jointly. All those who are in the register should be sure that if there is something inappropriate we will find it, we will criticise it, try to correct it and we will not be afraid to shame those responsible.
I was very glad – I am coming back to this because several speakers referred to the importance it – that all three institutions are progressing in this work. I am sure that after this very important opening by the Hungarian Presidency, we will not waste a minute and we will try to start the interinstitutional talks with the Council as soon as possible so we can find, I am sure, a very accommodating manner in which to manage the register together, the three institutions working on this issue with the same goal of increased transparency of European Union legislation.
The last point that was raised by several speakers and described by Mr Casini: the transparency register is definitely not a silver bullet or a magical solution to fight corruption. We know very well that high moral standards, ethics, dignity and clear rules are key. But it would certainly serve as a very good instrument and good indicator that those who register are prepared to respect the rules and be transparent, that they have nothing to hide and – this should be the key indicator for all of us – that they should be real partners to work with us and exchange information with us and that they have trust in our future communication."@en1
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