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LobbyControl

LobbyControl campaigns for transparency in EU lobbying and limits corporate influence on policy-making.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and European Environmental Bureau and

14 Jan 2026 · Attack against civil society

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament)

9 Dec 2025 · Transparency, Ethics body, Corruption scandals, Attacks on civil society

Meeting with Rasmus Andresen (Member of the European Parliament) and Open Markets Institute

19 Nov 2025 · EU Merger Guidelines

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and European Environmental Bureau and

17 Nov 2025 · CONT Scrutiny Working Group

Meeting with Erik Marquardt (Member of the European Parliament) and European Environmental Bureau and

17 Nov 2025 · CONT Scrutiny Working Group

Meeting with Rasmus Andresen (Member of the European Parliament) and Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. and

17 Oct 2025 · Europaworkshop

Meeting with Jutta Paulus (Member of the European Parliament) and Amnesty International Limited and

17 Oct 2025 · Europagruppe Grüne: Austausch mit NGOs

Meeting with Terry Reintke (Member of the European Parliament) and Amnesty International Limited and

17 Oct 2025 · EU Initiatives for Civil Society and Democracy

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Amnesty International Limited and

17 Oct 2025 · NGO-Workshop

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and ClientEarth AISBL and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union

15 Oct 2025 · Speaker at Cross-Party Event on "Transparency of the EU Legislative process"

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

14 Oct 2025 · Transparency of 3rd country interest representation

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament)

13 Oct 2025 · Videodreh Bürokratieabbau

Meeting with Jutta Paulus (Member of the European Parliament) and Amnesty International Limited and

6 Jun 2025 · Delegationsklausur, Treffen mit Interessensverbänden

Meeting with Terry Reintke (Member of the European Parliament) and Germanwatch and

6 Jun 2025 · Retreat of Europagruppe GRÜNE

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Amnesty International Limited and

6 Jun 2025 · Delegationsklausur

Meeting with Erik Marquardt (Member of the European Parliament) and Germanwatch and

6 Jun 2025 · Austausch im Rahmen eines Events der Europagruppe Grüne

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and

10 Mar 2025 · Exchange on Lobby Transparency Priorities

Meeting with Bernd Biervert (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič), Jan Hendrik Dopheide (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič), Sofia Asteriadi (Cabinet of Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič), Maria Olivan Aviles (Head of Unit Secretariat-General) and

24 Feb 2025 · Introductory meeting / transparency and ethics

Meeting with Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

13 Dec 2024 · Anti-corruption Directive

Meeting with Anthony Smith (Member of the European Parliament)

15 Oct 2024 · Dossiers liés à AFCO et auditions des Commissaires

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament) and Corporate Europe Observatory

1 Oct 2024 · Tech and Society Summit: Big Tech lobbying

Meeting with Martin Schirdewan (Member of the European Parliament) and Open Markets Institute

10 Sept 2024 · BigTech und Wettbewerb

Meeting with Sven Simon (Member of the European Parliament)

16 Jul 2024 · Lobbyregulierung

Meeting with Alvaro De Elera (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová) and Corporate Europe Observatory

2 Jul 2024 · transparency, integrity, lobbying

Meeting with Gabriele Bischoff (Member of the European Parliament)

30 Apr 2024 · Austausch und Gespräch zu Transparenzregeln im EU-Parlament

Meeting with René Repasi (Member of the European Parliament) and ARTICLE 19 and

15 Apr 2024 · Anti-Monopoly Conference

Meeting with Nikolaj Villumsen (Member of the European Parliament) and UNI Europa and Corporate Europe Observatory

20 Feb 2024 · Amazon lobbying

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and The Good Lobby

12 Dec 2023 · Ethics Body and Defense of Democracy Package

Meeting with Katarina Barley (Member of the European Parliament) and Corporate Europe Observatory

25 Oct 2023 · Transparenz von Trilogen

Meeting with Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament) and European Digital Rights and

25 Oct 2023 · Greens/EFA event "Reclaiming our Digital Future"

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament) and Corporate Europe Observatory

5 Oct 2023 · Staff Level: lobbying of Big Tech

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Sept 2023 · Big Tech lobby

Meeting with Gabriele Bischoff (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

8 Sept 2023 · Änderung der Geschäftsordnung des Europäischen Parlaments

Meeting with Gabriele Bischoff (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

28 Jul 2023 · Änderung der Geschäftsordnung des Europäischen Parlaments

Meeting with Gabriele Bischoff (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

28 Apr 2023 · Änderung der Geschäftsordnung des Europäischen Parlaments

Response to Recommendation on covert interference from third countries

13 Apr 2023

As a German civil society organisation advocating for transparency and integrity in democratic processes we welcome the opportunity to comment on the Commissions plans to strengthen the resilience of the EU democratic space against covert foreign interference. We fully agree with the goal of the package to safeguard democratic elections and processes from covert interference. As LobbyControl we have argued for an increased awareness of the risks of the many different channels and strategies of potentially malicious foreign interference, including corruption and elite capture, and have called for more transparency, stricter rules and regulations, and better oversight to counter those risks on multiple occasions. However, we have serious doubts that the Commissions plans to create a Directive based on Art. 114 TFEU as indicated in the Call for Evidence is the right way to pursue this goal. On the contrary, we are greatly concerned with regards to the effectiveness and proportionality of such a legal instrument and its potentially worrying impact on fundamental rights, especially freedom of speech and freedom of association. There is ample evidence from many third countries, but also from within the EU, of foreign influence laws being utilised to de-legitimise and harass civil society. We consider this as a fundamental problem of any regulation introducing transparency requirements for foreign funded or directed interest representation activities only. The fact alone that an organisation (or individual) is registered in a special foreign influence register can be used in a stigmatising way not only by repressive regimes, but, depending on political orientation, by certain media, political parties, and others to question the legitimacy of the organisation or the political activity itself. This can lead to less funding opportunities and thus would contribute to shrinking the space for civil society, while at the same time an active and critical civil society is by itself crucial to uncover and counter foreign interference in democratic processes in the EU. Shrinking the space for civil society and restricting access to funding from outside of the EU would thus potentially even weaken the resilience of our democratic societies. The impact of a foreign influence directive on the situation of CSOs and the fundamental rights impact should thus be very thoroughly assessed. A proper fundamental rights impact assessment on a Directive with potentially such far-reaching consequences is a necessity in our view. Since many CSOs receiving funding from abroad already have to comply with general lobby transparency rules in their member states, it would be counterproductive and to create additional administrative burdens to comply with another set of rules just for interest representation paid for or directed from outside the EU. The impact of a foreign influence directive on existing transparency regulations in the member states should thus also be more thoroughly assessed before pursuing this option any further. The need for further assessment is underlined by the absence of best-practice examples in other liberal democracies. The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the US and the more recently introduced Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act (FITSA) in Australia are the main international references. In our view, both exemplify the inherent difficulties of this type of legislation, albeit in very different ways, and are not good examples to follow. Please refer to the attached document for further elaboration.
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Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and Corporate Europe Observatory

27 Mar 2023 · Reform of rules of procedure (EP)

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament) and Corporate Europe Observatory

22 Mar 2023 · Transparency of lobbying

Meeting with Daniel Freund (Member of the European Parliament) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and The Good Lobby

1 Feb 2023 · EU Ethics Body

Meeting with Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager)

15 Nov 2022 · Lobby control.

Meeting with Paul Tang (Member of the European Parliament) and Corporate Europe Observatory

9 Nov 2022 · Transparency of lobbying

Meeting with Alvaro De Elera (Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová) and Transparency International Liaison Office to the European Union and

1 Mar 2022 · Transparency register

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

21 Oct 2021 · DMA

Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

15 Jul 2021 · DSA and DMA

Meeting with Antoine Colombani (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Michelle Sutton (Cabinet of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and

1 Mar 2017 · Transparency Register

Meeting with Joakim Larsson (Cabinet of Vice-President Cecilia Malmström), Jon Nyman (Cabinet of Vice-President Cecilia Malmström), Maria Asenius (Cabinet of Vice-President Cecilia Malmström)

2 Jul 2015 · Transparency notably of TiSA