• Green NGOs Position on Lobbying the EU

    Green NGOs position on lobbying the EU, in reference to the European Commission's proposed 'European Transparency Initiative'.

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    A large number of professional lobbyists aim to influence the EU decision-making process. The environmental organisations brought together in the Green 10 agree:

    • Lobbying, in the sense of approaching public decision-makers on behalf of a constituency in order to present opinions and proposals to inform decisions, is an important aspect of the work of environmental organisations.
    • Lobbying by public interest organisations, including environmental organisations, aims to ensure that public authorities are better informed when making decisions that affect public goods.
    • Lobbying by business interests is also a part of the democratic process. It is useful for decision-makers to know what economic actors think about policies that affect them directly.
    • However, lobbying by business interests can work against democratic decision-making when it is not transparent and when business is given undue weight and privileged access to decision-makers.