Lobbying at the National Assembly:

The Main Issues and Our Approach

Lobbying

In France, lobbying (or the activity of interest groups) is neither defined nor regulated. Furthermore, the mechanisms of French Parliament do little to require the institution to report on those mechanisms, and MPs do little to report on how they come to take positions meant to represent the French people.

The topics of public debate are often complex, sometimes technical, and can require the confrontation of a plurality of points of view when bringing in expert and contradictory knowledge. The transmission of this information can be useful in informing MPs, who cannot be expected to know everything about all the topics on which they make urgent decisions.

When its purpose is made clear and transparent, and when the expertise or viewpoints used have multiple sources, lobbying can help to shed light on issues. Conversely, lobbying that lacks regulations and transparency can lead to abuses, which in turn can result in decisions that follow special interests rather than the public good, undue costs to the community, and a serious deterioration in the trust – needed now more than ever – between citizens and MPs. It is therefore necessary to prevent abuses in their various forms (conflicts of interest, revolving doors, influence peddling)

The regulations of practices used to influence public actors who contribute to the development of policies – MPs, ministry decision-making bodies, public administrations, local authorities, high authorities, etc. – cannot target lobbyists exclusively, but must also be applied to any decision-maker acting on behalf of the State, paid or compensated by the State, or involving public funding.

The Lobbying Principles according to Transparence International France

1.  MPs take part in legislative decisions on behalf of the citizens and in the interest of the Nation:

It is critical for citizens to be able to understand the conditions under which decisions are made insofar as:

o  MPs exercise their mandate thanks to the confidence bestowed on them by the French people. They are compensated for this mandate, as are their employees, with the public money of taxpayers. The MPs also owe their ability to function to the money collected from French taxpayers: in the name of this delegation of powers and means, all citizens must be able to find out how decisions are made on their behalf.

o  In the French legal tradition, the Law is an expression of the common will and it is up to the legislator to express it in accordance with the common good. Each MP is thus called upon to carry out a mission that bridges the gap between an initial, individual perception, on the one hand, and on the other, what he or she proposes to put into law, effectively becoming an expression of the common will.

2.  The challenges of the 21st century highlight the fact that economic issues can no longer be considered separately from social, societal, environmental, or cultural ones:

Economic interest groups bring their arguments and information to the forefront. Social, societal, environmental, and cultural interest groups must be able to do the same with theirs. Indeed, debate and balance among multiple actors or issues are the qualitative conditions for contemporary democracies.

3.  In the preparation of public debates and during these debates, all of the positions of actors that are communicated to MPs or public decision-makers must be made public:

The transparency of political institution is an indispensable condition to their legitimacy.

4.  Recent aspirations to reinforce the role of French Parliament cannot come to fruition in the absence of efforts to jointly improve both its operational rules and its relations with society:

The regulations of lobbying cannot be based solely on the voluntary adoption of ethical codes developed by certain lobbyist organizations. Likewise, the issue of various actors’ access to Parliament cannot be examined solely from the angle of security. The rules of the assemblies must evolve and jointly clarify the responsibilities of lobbyists, or interest groups, as well as those of MPs and their co-workers.

5.  The regulations of lobbying or of the influence on MPs must be identical in the National Assembly and in the Senate.

The First Recommendations of Transparence International France

to improve the transparency and regulation of lobbying at French Parliament

In February 2009, Transparence International France released its first recommendations for the regulation of relations between MPs and interest groups, and since then has continued to pursue a dialogue among the various actors concerned.

In one of its recommendations made public in February 2009, TI France invited Parliament to clarify the French debate on lobbying through the creation of a documented and objective report. (Read the report (in French))

Transparence International France and Regards Citoyens

A seed was planted at a meeting that took place barely a year ago between Transparence International (TI) France and Regards Citoyens. That seed grew into the idea of a partnership that would bring together the technical expertise and open data practices of Regards Citoyens, on the one hand, and TI France’s expertise in issues involving transparency and integrity in public life, on the other. These two approaches immediately proved complementary in facilitating access to and improving the transparency of information on Parliamentary activity, an objective that both associations have in common.

Interactions between public or private actors designated by the terms of lobbing, influence, or interest representation have been the subject of constant controversy and have often led to very divided opinions, sometimes marked by ideologies. Organizations devote time and budgets to this issue, which indicates the stakes involved. However, to date, political science has done little to address this issue, and very little data exists. Indeed, lobbying is a difficult phenomenon to quantify, due to the various forms or paths it can take (informal discussions, face-to-face meetings, e-mail exchanges, invitations, interviews, suggestions for amendments, etc.). Nonetheless, is seems crucial to obtain objective data in order to bring an end to certain preconceived notions and to make progress in the debate on lobbying practices in France.

About Regards Citoyens

Regards Citoyens is a trans-partisan group of volunteers citizens, created in July 2009 to promote the reuse of public data in order to provide transparent, accessible, and simplified information about the operation of France’s democratic institutions. Since its creation, it has launched various initiatives, ranging from NosDeputes.fr —France’s first site enabling citizens to observe and analyze Parliamentary proceedings— to «Gazouillis depuis l'Assemblée» —the first live coverage, via Twitter, of the entirety of Parliamentary debate, seen from the stands of the public— and including various studies, in particular on the the impact of electoral re-districting or on the application of sanctions for commission absenteeism at the Assembly.

Transparence International France and Sciences Politiques Paris

This study will be completed and followed in 2011 by a panoramic view of lobbying in France, carried out with a researcher (Center for European Studies) and students in the Sciences Po Paris “Territorial and Urban Strategies” Master’s program. In this upcoming study, lobbying will aso be studied and illustrated through certain very specific cases of the Grenelle II law.

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Study on Influence at the National Assembly – Issues and Approach

Transparence International France & Regards Citoyens – March 2011