Denmark becomes latest EU state to consider lobby register

Denmark

The transparency move comes in the wake of the country’s general election in mid-September, which saw the election of a centre-left three-party government comprising the Social Democrats, Socialist People’s Party and the Danish Social-Liberal Party.
The Social Democrats – led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former MEP who is married to Stephen Kinnock, son of British Labour Party politicians Neil and Glenys Kinnock – have been leading the charge for a register, but there is broad political agreement.
Details have yet to be confirmed on how a register would be implemented but local observers believe that it could be modelled on the European Commission/European Parliament’s jointly-run – but currently voluntary – Transparency Register in Brussels. It has also been suggested that lobbyists must prepare to register each meeting with politicians.
Public Affairs News reported on the front page four months ago that two other EU states – Ireland and Austria – were also accelerating plans to bring in transparency rules aimed at lobbyists, as the desire to register lobbyists spreads across Europe (PAN, July). Unlike Austria, Denmark has not had a major lobbying scandal.
Denmark’s membership association for comms firms – the Danish Public Relations Association (BPRV) – 18 months ago started discussions on whether to set up its own register for members, but these have yet to bear fruit.
BPRV’s talks have been led by Bjørn B Christiansen, the founder and chief executive of the first dedicated lobbying firm in Denmark, Public Affairs Group, which recently became part of Kreab Gavin Anderson (PAN online, 19 Jan). See text below for his inside track on developments.

VIEWPOINT: A Copenhagen PA professional tells us...

By Bjørn B Christiansen

“A lobby register is the answer to a non-existent problem – Denmark has seen no scandals concerning private-sector lobbyists.
“But a register would at least be able to address public and political concern and demands for openness, and help to make sure that things work as they should do in a democracy.
“I think the register would be very limited in scope and, at the beginning, inspiration would be taken from the EU register. We await the details from politicians over the next few months.
“The BPRV [Danish Public Relations Association] would prefer it not to be mandatory to reveal companies on our client-lists to the public, nor to have to detail the specific issues we counsel on, and fees.
“But, if a regulation were to come into force, we would want it to be mandatory for all lobbying entities, i.e. not only lobbying firms, but also corporate in-house lobbyists, business associations, NGOs, lawyers, auditors, management consultants – and others providing de facto lobbying assistance.
“The BPRV’s public affairs committee, which I lead, has put forward a proposal and argued for a private initiative to self-regulate. Self-regulation is a very important regulation model in Denmark – it’s called the ‘Danish Model’, and used in the labour market primarily, but also in other areas where politicians want civil society to take action themselves.
“But, for the time being, we cannot get enough internal support in the association among members. Therefore, we await an initiative from the political system.”

Bjørn B Christiansen is a partner at Kreab Gavin Anderson (Copenhagen)

7th November 2011 by PAN staff