Scandal around John Dalli's resignation highlights Commission's urgent need for greater transparency and stronger ethics rules

The scandal around Commissioner John Dalli highlights the urgent need for far greater transparency and stronger ethics rules around lobbying. It is worrying that the European Commission itself acknowledges attempts to unduly influence the EU decision-making process [1]. The ALTER-EU coalition has for several years campaigned to convince the Commission that the current rules are inadequate, but most of our demands have, until now, been ignored. We urge the Commission to use this opportunity to get its house in order. This should include: - Stronger conflicts of interest rules and clearer procedures for enforcing such rules for Commissioners and Commission officials. This will require an ambitious overhaul of the Code of Conduct for Commissioners. - A high-quality, mandatory lobbying transparency register. The Commission and Parliament’s weak and voluntary ‘Transparency Register’ must be replaced with a mandatory lobby transparency system that enables EU citizens to see who is influencing EU decision making, on which issues, on whose behalf, and with what budgets. - Pro-active transparency by Commission and Parliament. In addition to the Transparency Register through which lobbyists report on their activities, the European Commission  should provide online transparency about meetings, phone calls and correspondence between Commission officials and lobbyists. [1] europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-788_en.htm