LOBBYING LANDSCAPE IN SLOVENIA

Given that most European countries have failed to regulate lobbying in any meaningful way, Slovenia is actually comparatively quite well advanced in this area. Progress was made with the introduction of lobbying regulations under the 'Integrity and Prevention of Corruption Act' in 2010. However, the regulation remains inadequately detailed and incomprehensive. The current system does not provide sufficient transparency of all lobbying contacts and makes insufficient use of information technology and its potential to faciliate better supervision and control over lobbying, despite the development of a new way to publish data online.

In addition, the bureaucracy of reporting on lobbying contacts by lobbied persons is vast, and difficult to follow given that lobbying activities are not pro-actively disclosed in a machine-readable format.

While a Register of Lobbyists and a reporting system exists, a lack of transparency in all stages of decision-making processes remains in the preparation of legislation.

Lobbying cannot be effectively regulated without tackling issues of political financing. Due to the strong connections between political parties and the private sector, there is insufficient transparency and supervision of political parties and election campaign financing. Furthermore, unbalanced and ad-hoc expert and advisory groups hinder the participation of the public in decision-making processes; and there is also inadequate informationon the members of these groups. This enables excessive influence of political elites and interest groups on the shape of public policies and agenda.

As a result, most lobbying in Slovenia continues to take place in the shadows, and the majority of lobbying contacts remain unreported. Beside the national level, there are also significant risks at the local level, since at this level civil servants and public officials do not report on lobbying contacts. Indirect lobbying is also problematic with the abuse of media to influence the decision-makers and public opinion, resulting in a negative impact on decision-making, as well as financial consequences for the public purse.

Given the opacity of transparency, there is an even greater importance for robust integrity measures, guiding the behaviour of both lobbyists and lobbied in their interactions, and reinforced by strong training, oversight and sanctions. While self-regulation of lobbying groups could fill some of the gaps in the inadequate government system of regulation by promoting responsible lobbying, it is currently insufficiently developed. The Association of Professional Lobbyists (20 Members) has established a Code of Ethics, but self-regulation initiatives by private sector companies and other professional associations and interest groups have been minimal.

A positive two-year post employment 'cooling off period' is in place before the public officials can lobby their former colleagues, but this is poorly monitored and enforced. Ex-officials frequently conduct various lobbying activities during the moratoium either directly, or through advising those who will seek to exert influence. There is no active debate on ethical and transparent lobbying as the lobbying profession is not well developed and other interest groups do not identify themselves as lobbyists either because they do not want to or because they use legal loopholes to cover their lobbying intentions.

Despite a certain number of positive developments, the overall situation in regulating the relationship between the government and third parties is inadequate. The risk of undue influence is high, a sis that of policy and institutional capture for private ends. There is a need for further education, empowerment and training of civil servants, public officials, journalists, professional and non-professional lobbyists, as well as the general public, in order to achieve transparent and ethical lobbying in Slovenia. This needs to be underpinned by regulatory reforms, as well as a greater measure of political leadership and will.

Recommendations

In order to improve regulation of lobbying in Slovenia, Transparency International Slovenia recommends:

1. Changes to legal regulations are necessary in order to achieve satisfactory transparency and oversight of lobbying in practice.

• The government and the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) must prepare a thorough assessment of the effects, advantages and weaknesses of the present lobbying regulations.
• The government and the CPC should include lobbying measures in the national anti-corruption strategy and action plan, with detailed measures to be taken by respective ministries and public institutions against illegal lobbying, and to ensure adequate control and follow up mechanisms.
• The government must ensure a comprehensive lobbying regulation through a dedicated stand-alone law.
• The government in cooperation with public institutions must implement and ensure effective mechanisms to guarantee greater transparency for professional, non-professional lobbyists and representatives of civil society, trade unions and interest associations.
• All public employees should report on all lobbying contacts including representatives of civil society, trade unions and other interest associations in a unified and adjusted electronic form, to ease civil servants of the administrative burdens and prevent illegal lobbying and enable control over external influences.
• The government, the CPC and public institutions bound by legislation must implement effective control on illegal lobbying activities and implement sanctions for breaches of legislation.
• The government, ministries and public bodies must implement a comprehensive legislative footprint as an annex to each piece of new legislation, so that it is clear which interest groups have contributed to consultations on legal developments.
• The government must enhance the rules on “revolving doors” and ensure effective implementation and supervision.

2. Transparent functioning and financing of political parties must be established and effective control mechanisms need to be implemented in a timely manner.

• Legislation of financing of political parties and election campaigns needs to be amended in line with international standards, focusing on provisions governing transparency, supervision and sanctioning by the government, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Public Administration.
• Common mechanisms for the effective supervision of financing of political parties and election campaigns needs to be implemented by the government.
• Political parties need to be included in the Public Information Access Act, as they are publicly financed, and access to information on political parties needs to be proactive. The political parties and institutions that control them must widen the accessibility of data in accordance with the standards of a representative democracy, transparency and the rule of law.

3. Self-regulation policies and rules of lobbying need to be established.

• In addition to complying with the mandatory statutory rules, lobbying professionals and associations should establish and implement comprehensive mechanisms for self-regulation and control for the promotion of ethical behaviour. Codes of conduct, codes of ethics, rules of procedures and other relevant tools for transparency and ethics should be effectively implemented in a timely manner.
• Private sector companies must implement tools for self-regulation, which should be an integral part of their compliance mechanisms in order to ensure ethical and transparent lobbying. This should also apply for non-professional lobbyists and in situations where companies hire external professional lobbyists.
• Professional associations, civil society, trade unions, and other interest associations should implement mechanisms for self-regulation, such as codes of conduct, codes of ethics, rules of procedures and other relevant tools for transparency and ethics to achieve ethical and transparent lobbying.

 4. Develop a comprehensive ethics and transparency policy and awareness-raising programme and systematic training on lobbying for all stakeholders and include it in the national anti-corruption resolution, strategy and action plan.

• The CPC and the government should establish a working group of stakeholders (state bodies, local communities, other relevant institutions in the public sector, professional and non-professional lobbyists, private sector, media, trade unions, CSOs, NGOs, interest groups and the public) to develop and implement a strategy and prepare awareness-raising programmes, and include them in the national anti-corruption resolution, strategy and action plan.
• Private sector companies should take responsibility for implementing tools to ensure integrity in their lobbying activities, and should raise awareness within their organisations of the importance of transparent lobbying.
• State bodies and local communities need to take active measures in order to guarantee that non-profit organisations are able to provide lobbying services especially for socially excluded individuals and active citizens, allowing them to participate in the democratic consultation process, management and control of public affairs.
• Public institutions should provide awareness-raising activities for employees on a regular basis and training on existing lobbying measures, rules and values that need to be enhanced in the system of governance, internal controls and ethical infrastructure.
• The CPC, lobbying associations and NGOs should provide periodic, systematic training and ensure awareness-raising activities for journalists, CSOs, NGOs and lobbyists.