Lobbyists – the fifth power in the EU

Sofia. Transparency of political institutions is a prerequisite for legitimacy. It should be easy to scrutinize how decisions are made, what are the influences behind them and finally how resources, i.e. taxpayer’s money, are allocated. Therefore rules for lobbying are ultimately a question of legitimacy.
At the moment it is estimated that there are about 15000 lobbyists and 2500 lobby organisations in Brussels. Counting permanent visitors’ badges and “express”-badges there are approximately 5000 lobbyists operating in the European Parliament.
Lobbyists are the fifth power in the EU and one can easily guess what the reason for the siege of European institutions is - the EU dictates 80% of the legislation of its member states, in fields where numerous interests are involved – agriculture, international trade, telecommunication, food safety, transport etc, The Dnevnik comments.
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Bulgarian ecology organizations that brought illegal constructions over sites included in the Natura 2000 Sites for Nature Conservation list are among the examples of successful citizen lobbying.
If the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, the range of the European Parliament’s authority over the EU legislature will be broadened.

Sursa.