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By SARAH WHEATON
Tips, tales, traumas to @swheaton or [email protected] | View in your browser
HOWDY. Welcome to this week’s edition of EU Influence, where we’re feeling extra sympathy for event and reception planners. As we’ll discuss below, planning conferences in Brussels is getting harder and harder, thanks to multi-layered political factors adding fresh complications.
But there’s also just, you know, Brussels. We were at an event the other night at that quirky private salon above Café Luxembourg, and the American host tried to order some more munchies after a few dozen guests demolished the first spread. Too late, he was told — everything had to be ordered a day in advance, despite the fact that Café Luxembourg is, you know, a restaurant. Not even a bag of potato chips was available, the host was told.
Welcome to Belgium!
ECA LOBBY AUDIT: 5 TAKEAWAYS
TRANSPARENCY REGISTER OR ‘PAPER TIGER?’ That the EU’s Transparency Register has a lot of flaws and loopholes is nothing new. Yet a European Court of Auditors report out Wednesday gives a pretty raw accounting (literally, lots of numbers) of just how much lobbying “can still slip under the radar,” said ECA member Jorg Kristijan Petrovič, who led the audit. Here are some points that stood out to us.
1 — CROSS-CHECKS REVEAL SHODDY DATA: The auditors checked a sample of entries to see if they fulfilled the requirements and compared how Transparency Register data measured up with other publicly available information. The results were not pretty.
Grants mismatch: Interest reps are supposed to disclose their grants, and they’re not doing it well. ECA looked at the Commission’s grant tracking system for 2021, and out of 135 cases, only six matched.
Missing info: Out of a sample of 100 potentially dodgy entries, 27 didn’t have information about the cost of lobbying activities, and 25 left out required details about interest representation.
Anonymous clients: Out of 661 entries categorized as intermediaries, 20 didn’t list their clients (and how much they paid) for the most recent closed financial year and 27 for the current financial year.
2 — HOW TO AVOID DISCLOSURES: The auditors uncovered two sneaky tricks some are using to avoid revealing information (without simply leaving required fields blank).
Lying about age: Another 16 were claiming to be a “newly formed entity” — meaning they don’t have to disclose clients from the closed financial year — even though they were formed more than three years ago.
NGO loophole: Organizations categorized as “NGOs, platforms, networks and similar” generally have to reveal even more about their funding than other types of registrants. Unless, that is, they say they represented their own interests or the collective interests of their members (basically, anything other than “not representing commercial interests”). About a third of NGOs used this out, the auditors found.
3 — DEACTIVATION, BY THE NUMBERS: Between 2019 and 2022 …
34 percent of registrants’ data was checked each year, on average
990 lobbyists were removed each year on average for out-of-date or missing data
6 were removed following complaints or an investigation
1 was prohibited from re-registering.
4 — POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT: Technology is making the Transparency Register more effective, the auditors found.
Automatic checks: From 2019 to 2021, around a quarter of entries hand-checked by the secretariat led to a removal because registrants were ineligible or information was missing. But that rate dropped to 14 percent in 2022, apparently thanks to systematic checks of new registrants introduced that year.
Website: Auditors called the user-friendliness of the website “sub-optimal,” noting it doesn’t use “common online data presentation techniques, such as dynamically linked, interactive dashboards and scoreboards.” We asked if that applied to the registry’s new website, which debuted a few weeks ago. Petrovič took some credit for improvements, but he lamented that it’s still not possible to, for example, search for lobbies that have met with particular institutions or staff.
5 — BLOWING OFF A KEY RECOMMENDATION: ECA recommended that institutions add a significant new disclosure requirement: spontaneous meetings with lobbyists (currently, only pre-planned meetings are disclosed). In their replies, the Council, Parliament and Commission all, as they so rarely do on this topic, agreed: Nope!
**What are the main takeaways from Enrico Letta's report on the future of the Single Market? Hear from the former Italian prime minister as he joins POLITICO Live for a special interview at 6:00 p.m. CEST tomorrow. Tune in and share your thoughts using #IndustrialPolicyEU!**
IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE
GLOBAL AND LOCAL POLITICS BURST THROUGH THE BUBBLE: Brussels bubble events are often so warm and fuzzy that they’re downright sleepy. The past week shows that’s changing. NatCon made headlines, and we’ll also look behind them here. But a feel-good European Youth Forum conference also descended into chaos over the weekend, as Israel-Gaza politics played out in the plenary. Our big question: Is this just an election season phenomenon, or the beginning of a new normal?
THE NATCON CONUNDRUM: It’s safe to say that the Farage-Orbán fiesta (as my colleagues called it) has been an unmitigated success: Not only did its firebrand speakers make headlines with punchy quotes, but the repeated cancellations drummed up even more attention and affirmed the narrative that the far-right is a victim of a fearful, censorious left.
Keeping the momentum going: MCC Brussels, a co-organizer of the National Conservative Conference, is holding free speech rally today with a politician from Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s surging right-wing populist party.
Reverse course: Avaaz, a global platform for left-leaning activists, floated a petition to pressure one of the venues, Sofitel, to drop the event. But they ultimately decided not to move forward with the campaign. (The online petition has been deleted; here’s our screen grab.)
While far-right leaders are ultimately a threat to free speech, argued Marie Yard, senior director at Avaaz, a “line was crossed” when police shut down the event (as opposed to private companies like event venues refusing to host). “There are far better ways to fight the far right than give them a PR coup.”
All politics is local: Surely the mayors of the Brussels communes who moved to shut down NatCon were aware that they’d give the gathering more oxygen. Indeed, that was likely the point: Belgian local elections are also coming up, in October, and an easy way to punch up.
Venue owners, watch out: With the far-right set to become a bigger force in Brussels, expect these competing pressures to get more intense.
ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT CRASHES YOUTH FORUM: Over two days this weekend, 1,300 young adults from all over Europe gathered in the Parliament to talk about how to build excitement for the EU election. The Level Up! Conference, run by the European Youth Forum (YFJ), was not something that was even on our radar.
However, during the closing plenary, chaos descended as some attendees in the hemicycle’s gallery disrupted the proceedings to shout messages in support of Palestine, and others soon joined in with the chants. A sign-language interpreter, at the request of an attendee, ended up teaching the entire room how to say “Free Palestine.”
‘Public humiliation’ for Jewish students: Emma Hallali, president of the European Union of Jewish Students, stood up amid the sign language lesson and said, “I think this is not the place to do it,” a video provided to EU Influence by EUJS shows. “I’m sorry, but we’re talking about the European election, we don’t need to import the conflict that is happening in Israel and Palestine, so please let’s keep it for after.”
The response, according to the video, is a combination of boos, hoots and applause, and Hallali starts to walk out. As a moderator tries to regain control, someone can be heard yelling, repeatedly, “Fascists!” and Hallali accuses the moderator of clapping with the Palestine protesters.
The scene descends into more calls for “Ceasefire now!” while some from the 13-member EUJS delegation call for the hostages’ release.
EUJS called the incident a “public humiliation,” adding in a press release: “In a space where everyone should have felt safe, Jewish students, once again, felt threatened.”
Cleanup effort doesn’t work: YJF put out a statement after the incident on Sunday, condemning “any form of antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred” and other hate speech. “We condemn all forms of abuse and attempts to silence any participant, and we apologise for this experience and for the unsafe atmosphere which surrounded these moments,” the statement read. YJF, which declined to comment beyond the statement, committed to “learn from this incident.”
For EUJS, the statement didn’t go far enough. Hallali said they expected a “much stronger response and commitment to protect individuals from hate speech and acts of discrimination both in the statement but more importantly, on the spot during the closing plenary.” The group has also called on European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to condemn the incident.
Cautionary tale: With the Israel-Palestine conflict electrifying campuses, YJF has worked hard to manage the issue productively within its own ranks; EUJS was among the backers of a motion to “open a constructive dialogue with affected communities.” This situation is a cautionary tale for other EU-level associations and civil society alliances: External moderators who aren’t schooled in these sensitivities and prepared to de-escalate these kinds of disruptions risk seeing a feel-good love-in turn into a spite-fest with lasting consequences.
POLLING
HOW TO WIN THE EUROPEAN ELECTION: the latest (and last before the election) Eurobarometer figures are in, providing a handy summary of the key issues Europeans want to see highlighted in upcoming electoral campaigns. Ironically, the issues driving voters seem to have little relationship to the culture war issues above.
Hot topics: There is no single runaway “top issue” that all Europeans care about, reports POLITICO data journalist Lucia Mackenzie, but poverty and social exclusion, public health, supporting the economy and job creation, and EU defense and security were mentioned as key topics for campaigns by citizens across the bloc.
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Not-so-hot topics: Typically polarizing issues such as gender equality, inclusion and diversity, as well as humanitarian aid and development assistance, and dryer topics such as consumer rights and the digitalization of the European economy and society appeared not to capture the public’s imagination.
But it all depends on where you are … main campaign topics are greatly influenced by national circumstances. It is perhaps not a coincidence that countries on the EU’s “eastern front” are most concerned with the bloc’s defense and security. Similarly, the fact that migration and asylum is a key issue in Cyprus and Malta reflects the visibility of the issue in those countries.
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PARTY CRASHING: Journalists and lobbyists both get paid to gather intel, and both cohorts think it’s so much easier for the other. So reporters were incensed when they discovered that a lobbyist for WindEurope was on the line during a technical briefing about a new investigation into China’s green tech subsidies.
Commission claims responsibility: This was a “clerical error,” said a Commission spokesperson. Part of the problem was that the invitation to the online briefing went to a wider pool of journalists than usual, since it touched on competition, trade and energy. And this lobbyist, diligently doing his job, had been casting a wide net in the search for information.
Honest mistake: Beyond the Commission’s word, there’s another reason we completely believe this lobbyist didn’t hijack a journalist’s invitation to the briefing: He had the temerity to ask a question. We know it’s not unusual for lobbyists to watch press briefings or log in to press calls — what’s unusual is for them to reveal that they’re there. In any case, the Commission said it has “strengthened our internal processes” to prevent a repeat.
THE ART OF INFLUENCE
DALLIGATE MOVIE: The José Bové character is the hero of a French-language political thriller dramatizing the so-called Dalligate affair, “Une affaire de principe.” Based on the trailer, the film appears to take the side of ex-EU Health Commissioner John Dalli, who resigned amid corruption allegations but maintained that he was set up in a plot by the tobacco industry. EU Influence missed the premiere but Corporate Europe Observatory’s Olivier Hoedeman tells us it was “very well done.”
BUYING THE BIENNALE: Apollo Magazine digs into the sponsors of the Venice Biennale and other major art exhibitions.
**Are you a young European looking to have a say in this year’s EU elections? We’re looking for you! Join the Maastricht Debate on April 29th as a Youth Ambassador or follow the event online**
INFLUENCERS
CONSULTING & COMMS
— The investment fund Bridgepoint Development Capital is set to become a minority stake shareholder in Forward Global (formerly known as Avisa), in a deal likely to be finalized later this year.
— The Messina Group (TMG) and Global Counsel (GC), strategic advisory and policy firms, have announced a global partnership. Peter Mandelson, the founding chairman of GC, will become president of GC and chair GC’s International Advisory Board.
— At Harwood Levitt Consulting, Silja Markkula and Fernando Tonon have been promoted to senior consultants in the healthcare and sustainability practices. Xavier Bento and Samanta Herman have been promoted to consultants.
— Carolina Costa has been appointed head of policy at Red Flag Global Brussels office. She previously worked at McLarty Associates, among others.
CIVIL SOCIETY
— Mariana Baptista started working as legal coordinator at ECAS — European Citizen Action Service. She was previously with the European Commission.
— Ronan Mangan started as senior policy and advocacy adviser with UNICEF PPD Brussels. He was previously with the Red Cross EU Office.
DEVELOPMENT
— Reinhold Elges has been promoted to director representation Brussels at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
— Also at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Luigi Vargiu has been promoted to portfolio manager Brussels portfolio, GIZ international services.
DIPLOMACY
— Emma Moyles started as financial services attaché at the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, sent out on a secondment by the Central Bank of Ireland.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
— Hager Bassyouni has been promoted to director of European affairs and strategy at Hezelburcht Grant & Funding Consultancy.
— Susan Yavari has been promoted to deputy director for capital market and digital topics at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA).
INDUSTRY
— Susan Danger is stepping down as head of AmCham EU later this year, the Transatlantic industry association announced today. A search for a new CEO begins “immediately.”
— Boris Ajeganoff-Nielsen started as chief adviser for European affairs at Danish Industry. He will be starting out in Copenhagen and moving to the Brussels office in a few months. He used to work at Ørsted.
— Kaisa Soro-Pesonen will in August become the new director and head of office of the Swedish Forest Industries Federation in Brussels. She will take over from Anna Holmberg, who will switch to director and head of membership relations.
THINK TANKS
— Nina Chabot is the new communications officer of Europe Jacques Delors.
TECH
— Jan Ellsberger will be the new head of the European standard-setting organization ETSI. Ellsberger, a former vice president of Ericsson and Huawei, beat out French spectrum agency chief Gilles Brégant, who was favored by the European Commission, and outgoing ETSI head Luis Jorge Romero, the organization’s leader for the past 13 years.
— Jakub Hera Adamowicz left Huawei, but he is sticking with Big Chinese tech, joining SHEIN as head of Brussels media and communications.
— Andrea G. Rodriguez has been appointed lead at ImpaQT, a quantum technologies consortium, leaving her position at the European Policy Centre.
THANKS TO: Louise Guillot and especially Ketrin Jochecová; visual producer Lucia Mackenzie, web producer Natália Delgado and my editors Paul Dallison and Khushbu Shah.
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