TALLINN (AFP) - The European Commission will go ahead with a package of transparency measures for lobbyists and farming aid aimed at boosting citizens' confidence in the EU, Administration and Anti-fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas of Estonia said yesterday.
"I am confident the Commission will pass the transparency plan at the beginning of next month," Kallas told reporters.
"There are people who think these measures are not needed, but the Commission as a whole has supported the idea."
The plan includes an obligation for member states to make public the list of companies and individuals receiving EU farming subsidies, the registration of lobbyists in Brussels and the adoption of a code of conduct for ..........
......... EU civil servants.
Under the plan, a public Internet portal will list the recipients of EU farming subsidies, he said.
"Some member countries have already made their aid recipients public, and it has been interesting to see several big firms, including sugar companies, as the biggest beneficiaries of the EU money."
The transparency initiative was supposed to be passed earlier in the month but was postponed.
"There were differing views, and some technical details needed to be hammered out," Kallas said.
"Now I'm sure it will go ahead."
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