Open Government in the EUIn today’s hyperglobal and networked world, laws created by regulatory superpowers can have legal effects across the world. It is no surprise, then, that those affected are keen to ensure that their voice is heard in rule-making. But is the EU prepared for such foreign lobbying activities? Emilia Korkea-aho argues that compared to another global regulator, the US, the EU remains one step behind where it comes to regulation and disclosure rules.
Since September 2014, the Open Government in the EU blog scans English-language online news outlets for news on EU transparency. Below, you can find the news digest for 2020.
Central points in news coverage were the use of transparency to fight disinformation, transparency of measures and institutional changes related to the corona pandemic, as well as the German Presidency’s efforts to better regulate the visibility of Council decision making and lobbying activities.
In mid-December 2020, after almost four years of on-off negotiations, agreement on a joint transparency register, also colloquially known as a lobbying register, was announced. But the deal stretches the definition of mandatory beyond normal uses of the word, Emilia Korkea-aho argues.
The Lisbon Treaty recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Treaty, which laid the fundament for a reformed European Union, entered into force with the promise that European decision making would become more transparent, and therefore more democratic. On the tenth birthday, Maarten Hillebrandt considers what has come of these ambitions.
