HIDING A FOREST BEHIND THE TREES Transparency, integrity and accountability at the European Commission This in-depth report is an update to the 2014 Transparency International EU study on the EU integrity system Transparency International EU (TI EU) is a regional office of the global anti-corruption movement, Transparency International. Working closely with the International Secretariat in Berlin, Germany, TI EU leads the movement’s EU-focused advocacy in close cooperation with over 100 national chapters worldwide, but particularly with the 23 chapters in EU Member States. TI EU’s mission is to prevent and address corruption and promote integrity, transparency and accountability in EU institutions and in EU internal and external policies, programmes and legislation. www.transparency.eu Authors: Angels Giménez Bofarull, Leo Hoffmann-Axthelm, Matilde Manzi Editor: Leo Hoffmann-Axthelm Design: www.beelzePub.com Photography: Cover: Flags flown at half-mast in front of the Commission’s Berlaymont HQ by European Parliament, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Page 9: © Daniel Dumbrava via Unsplash Page 10: © Richard Parmiter, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Page 13: © European Parliament, licensed under CC BY 2.0 Page 15: Illustration © Wannapik Studio Page 18: © Ula Kuzma via Unsplash Page 19: © Quinn Dombrowski, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Page 20: © Quinn Dombrowski, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Page 22: © Daniel Dumbrava via Unsplash Page 29: licensed under CC0 Public Domain Page 32: © beasty, via Unsplash Page 34: © Susan Yin, via Unsplash Page 36: © Christian Schnettelker, licensed under CC BY 2.0 Page 38: © European Union Page 41: © Christian Schnettelker, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Page 42: © Szilas, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 Page 48–49: © European Parliament, licensed under CC BY-NC ND 2.0 Page 50: © European Parliament, 2020 Page 51: © Jim Killock, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Page 52: © Jakob Braun, via Unsplash © 2021 Transparency International EU. All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Any mistakes are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not reflect the views of the members of the advisory group or any other persons consulted externally, either through interviews or our feedback and review process. Members of the advisory group to not bear responsibility for the final text. Transparency International EU would like to thank everyone who contributed to all stages of the research and preparation of this report. In particular the Senior Advisory Committee composed of: Mario Monti — Former EU Commissioner and former Prime Minister of Italy Reinhard Priebe — Former Director, European Commission Emilio de Capitani — Former Head of the Civil Liberties Committee Secretariat, European Parliament Jean Paul Jacqué — Former Director in the Legal Service, Council of the EU Alberto Alemanno — Professor of European Union Law & Policy, HEC Paris Lisbeth Kirk Iversen — Founder, EU Observer Monique Goyens — Director General, European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information included in this report. All information was believed to be correct as of January 2021. Nevertheless, Transparency International EU cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of this information’s use for other purposes or in other contexts. This project was made possible with the support of: This publication reflects the views of the authors only. 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HIDING A FOREST BEHIND THE TREES Transparency, integrity and accountability at the European Commission Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................10 ACCOUNTABILITY ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................11 Guardian of the Treaties or ‘Political Commission’? ........................................................................11 Shift since 2014 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Discretionary powers .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Financial accountability and European budget .......................................................................................................................................................... 12 Election and accountability of Commissioners ................................................................................13 Election of candidates ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 14 2 ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSPARENCY ....................................................................................................................................................................................17 Internal structure and procedures ..................................................................................................17 Proactive transparency ....................................................................................................................18 Document registers and databases ......................................................................................................................................................................................20 Access to document requests .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 LEGISLATIVE TRANSPARENCY .................................................................................................................................................................................................25 Lobby transparency ........................................................................................................................ 25 Lobbying the European Commission ....................................................................................................................................................................................26 An EU Transparency Register for the Commission, Parliament and Council .................................................................................29 Pre-proposal transparency or “better regulation” .......................................................................... 32 Stakeholder consultations ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................33 Expert Groups .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................37 Delegated and implementing acts .................................................................................................. 39 Transparency and accountability .............................................................................................................................................................................................39 Delegated Acts ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Implementing Acts ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................