Video ⟩ Politicians skeptical about making changes to the “Lobbying” transparency law soon

The amendment of the Law on Tobacco and Smoking Devices has also shown, for example, how much interest a single issue can generate. Then the representatives of the industry looked for a way to the deputies. But there is no list where you can see this type of meeting. Active lobby work has also accompanied another law, in which even the coalition parties did not vote unanimously.

One of the articles of the Interest Representation Openness Law, which came into force already, states:

At the end of January, the Saeima voted to terminate the bilateral investment agreement between Latvia and Norway. Not only the opposition ZZS and Latvia’s First Place voted against this decision. But the ruling United List also had a different vote from the coalition – abstaining. The ruling coalition partner’s different decision is said to be based on the objections of organizations such as LDDK and LTRK.

Viktors Valainis, the leader of the ZZS faction that voted against, said from the Saeima tribune at the time: “Apparently, this issue is only in the interests of one entrepreneur. Of course, we have also met with this businessman in the faction of the Greens and Farmers’ Union, and we also pointed out to the businessman, directly starting from the fact that this cannot be a matter of just one businessman. We invited this issue to be discussed in the business environment and with non-governmental organizations. He did so. After that, we received letters that this is no longer the issue of just one entrepreneur, that the position of this entrepreneur is defended by the largest Latvian business organizations (..)”

If part of the opposition did not vote for the bill prepared by the Foreign Affairs Commission, then the scenario advocated by businessman Pēteris Pildegovićs would come true. His company is litigating with Norway and he also actively worked with Saeima members to push the decision in the desired direction. That is, the opportunities given by the contract would continue for another ten years. The legal proceedings of Pildegović’s company are related to the opportunities to fish snow crabs in Svalbard, which was “de facto” talked about earlier.

Perhaps this would have been one of those cases where news of lobbying activities should have appeared along with the proposal. However, they were not indicated, although the law requires it from the first of January. True, the law does not specify exactly how this should be done, and perhaps it is indeed sufficient to announce the meeting during the debate.

“I think that the procedure should be uniform, because in principle it is not possible for people from the street to enter the Saeima in the same way. And in our opinion, this would not be a problem, because our operating principles are always to work with, so to speak, recognized organizations (..),” Valainis explains the announcement from the podium.

Although the law, which has been discussed for many years and was adopted last fall at the previous session of the Saeima, has finally come into force, the representatives of the Saeima factions criticize it as too bad and unspecific.

“I cannot say that this law is perfect, that it is very good, that there are answers to all questions. The most important thing about this law is that it means that we are forced to think about how to further improve it, because during 10 years there was a situation where there was nothing (..) I think it would be very good that those who are professionally engaged in lobbying, then, if they were to report, for example, what money they received for representing what interests. But we are not ready for that yet. In addition, there is the question of whether we would vote for it if there was such a proposal – there are no votes here, because many people like to do it secretly,”

says Saeima member Andrejs Yudins (JV).

The most important part, which will require interest lobbyists to register in a certain order, will come into force in the fall of 2025. Now, if a member has submitted a proposal or a bill, he should indicate the interest representative with whom he communicates.

The “Progressive” faction of the Saeima had added such marks to the proposals in the budget bill. However, at the same time, for example, the representatives of this same party in the Riga City Council have created and maintain a kind of lobby register, indicating all meetings and their reasons in a public calendar, however, their Saeima faction does not have one.

“We haven’t had time yet, but he has been created, let’s say, we are already trying to get our hands on it and we always invite the deputies to actively use this calendar to inform about their meetings. At the moment, he is more for the internal use of the faction, but we will definitely look for opportunities to make it known to the public, because we have nothing to hide in our work,” promises Kaspars Briškens, head of the “Progressive” Saeima faction.

The idea of ​​creating a public calendar for the members of the faction seems worth discussing to Judinas, the representative of the New Unity, and Valainis, the leader of the Greens and Farmers faction, offers such an experiment:

“As the leader of the faction, I could undertake and make such a pilot project. You could see, let’s say three months, we will make a public registry on our website so that everyone can see who comes to us, and we have absolutely no problem implementing this.”

Anti-corruption expert Valts Kalniņš admits that if there are no precise instructions on how to fulfill the provisions of the new law, then each institution must find its own solution on how to do it. Among other things, it can also be a public calendar, recording who factions or individual MPs meet with.

“Each institution has to find a solution on its own, so that the legal norm is fulfilled. So that it is possible to fulfill him as simply as possible with less complications. (..) It would be wonderful if the Saeima could, for example, collect information on all interest advocacy activities that have taken place in one place, but that would be some kind of step that exceeds the minimum that the law specifically requires,” says Kalniņš.

However, does and what plan does the Saeima have? When the law came into force, a seminar was organized for the deputies with the participation of experts to explain the new norms. However, even the experts could not provide answers to many questions. The Speaker of the Saeima, Edvards Smiltēns (AS), is ready to criticize the law, but does not promise that the Saeima could develop guidelines for MPs.

“The law is declarative, it is abstract, extremely. And really, my condolences must be expressed to the Ministry of Justice, which is obliged to detail all this further, if. I believe that the Saeima should adopt, if it does, then it should adopt laws that are understandable, clearly enforceable, and it is also clear what happens if these laws are not followed. Unfortunately, this law does not include it, there are only a few articles,” says Smiltēns, Speaker of the Saeima.

But to the objection that it is up to the Saeima to change it, he replies: “Perhaps we will deal with the budget, at the moment it is the first priority, we still need to find money for health and we will work further in the order of priorities.”

“I allow until there are clear regulations, guidelines, how it works, as they say – rekur is a model and can be submitted in this way in the future. I doubt whether it is correct – one person perhaps did not understand how it should be done, the other perhaps overdid it and pointed out something else, so it must be said here that it is like a small child here, I will not talk about MPs only, but about politicians in general, – the procedure should be put, as they say, like food with a spoon in the mouth. And everyone has to start acting. But such a self-regulation process that it is possible that we will make some questionnaires ourselves, I do not believe that it is possible [darboties],” says Saeima member Rihards Kol (NA).

Both Smiltēns and several other MPs state that they also ensure openness through other types of publications, such as posts on social networks. “The first and most important thing is that if we have any entrepreneur, I think we will reflect on social networks, which in turn is a public calendar where everyone can see, including the public and our voters,” says “Stability!” Aleksej Roslikov, head of the Saeima faction. Ainārs Šlesers, the head of the Saeima faction “Latvijas prëkų mėlų” also refers to the meetings with businessmen published on the social network “Facebook”.

“Honestly, I have not thought in such detail as we plan to make it public, I said – we are an opposition faction, at the moment, we are not in the ruling coalition, and therefore the information is probably not that much, but we are ready,” says Shlesser.

If the challenge of the previous Saeima was to write the Law on Lobbying or Interest Representation, then the current Cabinet of Ministers will have to prepare and adopt regulations by September in order to be able to create the Interest Representation Register and certain areas of interest representation. And then two years will be allocated for the preparation of the practical side.

It is expected that the implementation of the register of lobbies will cost around one and a half million euros. After that, it will need about three hundred thousand euros every year. However, money for these purposes is expected to be requested from next year’s budget.