Yesterday, 14 civil society organisations, including The Good Lobby, united under the #Lobbying4Change coalition, presented their demands for lobbying regulations and for more transparent public decisions in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Italy. In doing so, the #Lobbying4Change coalition asked to speed up the approval process of the lobbying law now under discussion in the Constitutional Affairs Commission.
“We are 14 organizations with very different profiles, histories, experiences, but united by the battle for more transparent and inclusive public decisions. We take into account the opinion and point of view of those like us and defend […] the public interest and the common good, which are too often excluded from the political debate. In the Chamber (n.r. The Chamber of Deputies in the Parliament of Italy), the process of legislative proposals has begun and the texts presented by representatives of the majority are more than satisfactory. If not now, when?” says Federico Anghelé, Director of The Good Lobby office in Italy.
The pandemic has highlighted the urgency of regulating lobbying and making it more participatory. This has recently been confirmed by a study conducted by the Universities of Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Trinity College in Dublin, interviewing 1,443 interest groups from 10 different European countries, including Italy.
The #Lobbying4Change coalition’s proposal comes in anticipation of the implementation of the European Recovery Fund for the Italian economic system revitalisation, which will see the largest injection of public funds since the Second World War. Without a law on lobbying capable of guaranteeing effective transparency and participation of civil society, there is a risk that policies will end up favouring only those with closer relation to power, thus excluding from the recovery plan the categories of citizens most affected and those who have limited opportunities to be heard.
The political juncture to finally regulate lobbying could be ideal. Three members of the Italian Parliament belonging to the three main shareholders of the government majority presented bills on the lobbying subject during the cycle of hearings in the Constitutional Affairs Commission. The bills were aimed at both lobbying companies and civil society, the urgency of regulating lobbying in Italy.
For The Good Lobby, the #Lobbying4Change coalition represents a step further in democratising lobbying after launching a petition to regulate lobbying in Italy which has been supported by over 11,000 people and which you can still sign here.
SEE ALSO:
LA REPUBBLICA | Legge sui lobbisti, nasce una coalizione di associazioni per spingere l’approvazione
IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO | Regolare le lobby in Parlamento: coalizione della società civile spinge per la legge. “Se non si riesce in questa legislatura è un fallimento”
HUFFINGTON POST IT | Lobbisti per il bene comune: nasce la coalizione per una legge sul lobbying