Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 12/2011

A Call to Members of the European Parliament: Take transparency seriously and enact the 'legislative footprint'

Lukas Obholzer

October 2011

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

Transparency means proactive action: by adding a provision for a legislative footprint that identifies which interest-representatives key actors met, received, and heard from, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have a chance to turn the EP into a role model for parliamentary transparency in a pluralistic democracy. Against a backdrop of past scandals and recent criticism about agreements negotiated behind closed doors, the European Parliament is about to miss an opportunity to show that it takes its role as guarantor of legitimacy in EU decision-making seriously, argues Lukas Obholzer, in this new Policy Brief.