The ties between former European Commissioner Neelie Kroes and taxi service Uber turned out to be very close last week. In addition to criticism of Kroes, it also caused a lot of discussion about politicians who enter the lobby circuit after their careers. How strict are lobbying rules?
It is a thorn in the side of many: ministers and state secretaries who start working as lobbyists after their political career. There is a fear that the interests of certain companies or industries will therefore weigh very heavily in the making of new laws. It also reduces confidence in politics. Time for stricter rules, many think.
Those rules are also coming, but for the time being the lobbying policy in our country is fairly flexible. For example, there is no public register in which all lobbyists are obliged to register. There is one registerbut that is on a voluntary basis. The fewer than a hundred people in it are only a small part of all lobbyists who come for coffee in The Hague.
There is also no obligation to record every contact between a cabinet member and a lobbyist in a public register and to make clear what has been discussed. In addition, critics would like to see an independent committee that gives an opinion if a minister quits and then wants to make a switch to the lobby circuit.
Former minister is not allowed to lobby in his own policy area
It is, however, prohibited for ministers and state secretaries in the Netherlands to start working as a lobbyist in the field in which they were active as ministers in the first two years after their departure. So, for example, a former energy minister is not allowed to work for an interest group for energy producers.
That ban has recently been extended. From now on, an ex-minister may no longer work as a lobbyist within a sector that has interfaces with his former policy area for the first two years after his departure. This was introduced, among other things, in response to a transfer of ex-minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen last year.
She was Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management and almost immediately transferred from that position to the Energy Netherlands interest group. Although she was not a Minister of Energy, she was involved in energy issues during her ministerial position, for example with regard to the truck tax. Such transfers should therefore no longer be possible due to the recently introduced measure.
More is in the pipeline. For example, there are plans for an independent committee that can judge if ex-ministers want to make a switch. There will also be a code of conduct on how to deal with lobbyists and the cabinet wants to lay down the aforementioned ‘cooling off period’ of two years in law. Furthermore, a motion was recently passed in the House of Representatives to introduce a mandatory lobby register. It is not yet clear when the rules will be introduced.
As far as the European Commission (EC) is concerned, things could go a little faster in the Netherlands. The committee therefore urged the cabinet last week to make haste with stricter rules. This should also make clear how politicians should deal with lobbyists, with the most important thing being that there are penalties for those who do not follow the rules. In addition, Brussels wants laws to be passed that clarify how political parties are financed.
Rules in Brussels slightly stricter than in the Netherlands
Although the EC has reprimanded the Netherlands, there is also regular commotion in Brussels itself about ministers who are going to lobby. How strict are the European rules really?
They are in any case stricter than in the Netherlands. For example, in the European Union there is a register in which lobbyists must register, as well as the organization they represent. In that so-called transparency register there are now more than 12,500 entries. Without such registration, it is not allowed to have contact with anyone from the European Commission, the European Parliament or the European Council.
Half of registrations consists of companies and business associations. It also includes NGOs, think tanks and law firms. The register contains, among other things, the name of the organisation, the contact person and the topics discussed or the reports to which a contribution has been made. shellGoogle and Facebook parent company Meta, for example, are in the register, as are interest groups such as the ANWB, VNO-NCW, FNV, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.
The EU is also looking at ex-European Commissioners, such as Kroes, who want to switch to a lobby function. Former supervisory directors who want to make such a career switch must request permission from the EC for their new job in the first two years after their resignation. He can advise against such a switch.
The basic principle here is that EU ministers are not allowed to lobby in the field for which they were responsible as commissioners during the first two years. And preferably not afterwards either.
For example, the committee advised Kroes not to start working for Uber, but the former European Commissioner for Digital Affairs nevertheless started working for the taxi service. She even appears to have worked for the company before the official transfer. The EC has therefore now requested clarification from Kroes about its activities for Uber.