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INPRIMATU
Control pressure groups
  • Whether American, Chinese or European, whether Spanish, French or Basque, all governments are surrounded by lobbies or lobbyists.
Juan Mari Arregi 2018ko otsailaren 06a

In many cases, major political decisions are not taken in the Hemicycle in front of a micro, but in clandestine meetings held in classrooms, hallways, sports clubs and restaurants. These organized groups only want to defend their interests from the shadow conditioning politics, they are lobbies, who in most cases seek economic benefits.

Well, the Government of Navarre is reasonably very concerned about the operation of lobbies, and is trying to control these pressure groups and tie them in short chain. The proposal being drafted in the Parliament of Navarre means copying what is being done in the Anglo-Saxon countries: registering all existing lobbyists. These groups should make public the meetings they hold with the political representatives. On the contrary, politicians will also have to make their agendas public so that everyone knows with whom they are gathering their agendas. Pressure from lobbies can be a crime for the trafficking of influences. The so-called “revolving doors” can also be dangerous, since in most cases former politicians and former representatives participate, and in the end they are only “deferred bribes”.

To see if the Government of Navarra manages to complete this register of lobbies and maintain a public political agenda, as laid down in the Transparency Act. It would be an effective way of controlling lobbyists seeking to change regulations and laws to the benefit of their economic interests. The former Navarros foreign governments were not an example of urgency in this matter… if the lobbys of then spoke!