Time to reform Luxembourg parliament lobby register, report concludes

Luxembourg’s parliament should carry out a “significant reform” of its own lobby register, a body overseeing the work of the Chamber of Deputies has concluded.

The Chamber’s Conference of Presidents – a group comprising the parliament’s president plus the chairs of each political faction – said on Thursday it was time for an overhaul of the current register, based on the first report to assess the effectiveness of the system since it was introduced in 2021.

It comes after parliament last year vowed to review the lobby register, amid calls from some parties for a major revamp. Pirate party MP Sven Clement, who tabled the legislation which led to the creation of the register in the first place, compared the current database to a “phone book”.

There are a series of gaps in the existing register, according to the conclusions of a study by the parliamentary administration, which provides reports for members of the Chamber of Deputies.

“Firstly, the transparency register currently only allows information to be obtained on the identity of people who have wished to influence parliamentary work, without providing concrete information on the MPs involved or on the subjects debated,” noted a summary of the report published on parliament’s website.

Practical difficulties undermining effectiveness

There are also practical difficulties which are undermining the lobby register’s effectiveness, the report added, including “misunderstandings of the rules by those involved, frequent omissions or the fact that those involved confuse the transparency register with other registers, for example the commercial register”.

The register is published on the parliament’s website, but there is no information if or when any meetings took place, how often, or with which politicians.

In contrast, that information is contained in Luxembourg’s two registers for government ministers and civil servants, which also includes a brief summary of the purpose of the meeting.

The names of over 330 organisations, including businesses and voluntary groups, have been entered into the register since it was voted into law more than three years ago. There have been two requests for deregistration since its launch, the report found.

While the register has been consulted online or downloaded more than 5,000 times in the past year alone – up until the end of February – not a single person has viewed the physical copy in parliament over the same period.

A number of changes could be made to improve the existing register, the report found, recommending that details such as the subject and date of each meeting is recorded.

A more “substantial reform” could involve “drawing inspiration” from the lobby registers currently in place for government ministers and civil servants, the report added.

It will now be up to parliament’s rules committee, chaired by former Justice Minister Sam Tanson, to put forward a proposal for reform following the report.