Commission Expert Groups

Yiorgos Vassalos

Corporate Europe Observatory

Media Seminar, 25/08/2011

European Commission

Monopoly of legislative initiative

- The Commission

proposes more

than 100 legislative

pieces per year

and nearly all get

adopted

- #1 target of

lobbyists

Commission drafts laws for half

billion Europeans

- More than 50% of the legislation adopted by the

parliaments of the 27 member states has its

origins in Brussels. More than 80% of economic

one.

- Small administration particularly when compared

with the size of national governments:

Commission has 24,000 staff (32,000 with

outsourced staff)

Many French ministries have above 30,000.

- Only less than 12,000 A grade officials actually

deal with legislation.

Can the Commission draft laws

alone?

- 3,500 staff working in

the Commission's

research and statistical

facilities (Eurostat,

RTD, JRC)

- 7,300 staff of the

European Community

Agencies

Expertise deficit

= lobbyists’ entry point

Commission can

mobilise resources

from:

• Member states

• Public universities

and civil society

• The thousands of

corporate lobbyists

present in Brussels

Ways to ‘provide expertise’

- Presentation of reports

- Conferences

- Breakfast, lunch, dinner events

- Forums

- Letters

- Commission doesn’t hide preference to business

Institutionalised influence:

advisory bodies

- Around 1,000 expert groups

- They make the fist legislative and policy

drafts

- 2/3 of them composed by member states

representatives

- 300 with non-government participation

- 100 controlled by corporations, trade

associations etc.

Policy areas controlled by corporate

interests through expert groups

• Entreprise and industry (27/44/90)

• Trade (not in the register)

• Research (tech. platforms)

• Agriculture

But mostly…

Finance (DG Markt)

Eleven out of 20 groups dealing with financial regulation (19 in the Register plus CESAME2 which may still exist) have non-governmental members. Seven of the 11 are dominated by corporate representatives. These seven groups are:

• Expert Group on Financial Education (EGFE) - 1 hybrid, government and corporate dependent, 10 Corporate, 2 alternative banking1 consumers,1 academia,1 professional

• Group of Experts in Banking Issues (GEBI) - Member + observers: 39 industry, (incl. savings banks), 1 academic,1 think tank, 4 NGO + consumers,1 union

• Payment Systems Market Expert Group (PSMEG) - 43 industry, 1 trade union, 1 NGO representatives, 1 cooperative banks

• CESAME (not in the register but we suppose still existing) - 31 industry representatives

• Insolvency Law Group of Experts (ILEG) - Judging from the job titles: Industry 17, Academia 1, Gov. 2

• Cross border financial redress analysis (29 inudsty, 24 governments)

• Expert Groups on Market Infastructure (EGMI) - Industry 31NGOs 1, Cooperative banks 1, Public banks 1, EU bodies 4

Among the 276 nongovernmental members, 202 come from industry and 74 from other interest types or entities.

2009: 84%

2011: 73%.

Finance (DG Markt)

Derivatives expert group

(now dissolved)

1. AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers)

2. BaFin (Bundesanstalt für

Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht)

3. CEBS (Committee of European Banking

Supervisors)

4. CEBS (Committee of European Banking

Supervisors)

5. CEIOPS (Committee of European Insurance and

Occupational Pensions Supervisors)

6. CESR (Committee of European Securities

Regulators)

7. CESR (Committee of European Securities

Regulators)

8. ECB (European Central Bank)

9. ECB (European Central Bank)

10. FSA (Financial Services Authority)

11. Alternative Investment Management Association

12. Association française des marchés financiers

(EFSA European Forum of Securities

Associations)

13. Barclays Capital (ISDA International Swaps and

Derivatives Association)

14. BGC International (WMBA Wholesale Markets

Brokers' Association)

15. BNP Paribas (EBF European Banking Federation)

16. Citigroup Global Markets (SIFMA Securities

Industry and Financial Markets Association)

17. Deutsche Bank (ISDA International Swaps and

Derivatives Association)

18. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

19. DZ Bank AG (EACB European Association of Co-

operative Banks)

20. European Banking Federation

21. European Fund and Asset Management

Association

22. EUREX (EACH European Association of Central

Counterparty Houses)

23. Euronext.Liffe

24. (FESE Federation of European Securities

Exchanges)

Derivatives expert group

(now dissolved)

25. Federation of European Securities Exchanges, Futures and Options Association

26. Generali (CEA)

27. GFI Group (WMBA Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association)

28. Goldman Sachs (ISDA International Swaps and Derivatives Association)

29. Grupo Santander (EBF European Banking Federation)

30. HSBC (EBF European Banking Federation)

31. ICAP (WMBA Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association)

32. ICE Clear Europe (FESE Federation of European Securities Exchanges)

33. ING (CEA)

34. Intesa SanPaolo (EBF European Banking Federation)

35. International Swaps and Derivatives Association

36. JP Morgan (SIFMA Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association)

37. Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (EAPB European Association of Public Banks)

38. LCH.Clearnet (EACH European Association of Central Counterparty Houses)

39. MarkitMEFF (FESE Federation of European Securities Exchanges)

40. Morgan Stanley (ISDA International Swaps and Derivatives Association)

41. Nasdaq/IDCG (EACH European Association of Central Counterparty Houses)

42. Tullet Prebon (WMBA Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association)

43. UBS (ISDA International Swaps and Derivatives Association)

Same banks everywhere

- DG Markt expert groups

- CDS market (ISDA, Markit,…)

- Represented in the International Institute

of Finance present in the last EU summit

(July 12, six page document)

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ING,

BNY Mellon, Société Générale, Citigroup, BNP

Paribas, Credit Suisse etc.

Our work with Alter-EU

• CEO article 2007

• Report 2008 when there was no info on

most expert groups

• Report Autumn 2009

• Summer 2010 – Ombudsman complaint

• May 2011 – civil society workshop

• To come – multiple complaint on finance,

letter on DG Enterprise expert groups

Rules on expert groups

1. Rules on Expert groups C(2010) 7649 final

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/PDF/C_2010_EN.pdf

2. Code of conduct on expertise

http://ec.europa.eu/governance/docs/comm_expertise_en.pdf

3. On conultation standards

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2002:0704:FIN:en:PDF

Curbing privileged access

ALTER-EU runs a number of initiatives to

combat corporate capture of expert groups:

- Ombudsman complaint - http://www.alter-eu.org/documents/2010/11/04/ombudsmans-inquiry-on-expert-groups

- Mobilising MEPs - http://blog.brusselssunshine.eu/2011/02/meps-corner-commission-on-expert-groups.html

- Encourage civil society to open fronts (fi. transfer pricing, financial supervision authorities) - http://www.alter-eu.org/events/2011/05/13/alter-eu-workshop-on-expert-groups

- Media campaing - http://www.wdr.de/tv/monitor/

Technology Platforms

‘‘ETPs provide a framework for

stakeholders, led by industry, to define

[EU] research priorities and action’’

Examples of problematic ones:

- ‘Sustainable Nuclear Energy’

- ‘Zero Emissions Platform’ (CCS)

- ’European Biofuels Technology Platform’