The investigation into Equipo Económico, an office founded by former Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro, has reopened the debate on the relationship that should exist between lobbies and politicians. There is currently no state law that regulates the operation of interest or pressure groups, which makes the fine line that separates the work of lobbyists from influence peddling more diffuse.
The case that continues in the court of inquiry number 2 of Tarragona focuses on the alleged use by Equipo Económico (EE) of its influence at the top of the Treasury, with Montoro as minister, in order to obtain legislative reforms in favor of their clients. What is the difference between this way of proceeding and the general lobbies? A director of a consultancy dedicated to support for interest groups explains it: opacity. The function of a lobby is to promote laws or reforms in favor of a certain sector. That is why they have a series of tools, including access to the legislator – through meetings with deputies – or to the Executive – with access to the various ministries in the branch – in order to achieve their goal. The difference is that these movements to try to promote new legislation are done with light and shorthand.
Parliamentary sources are anxious to know the background of the events with EE, but what emerges so far from the investigation is that they would have managed to get the Treasury, in an opaque way, to approve legislative reforms, for the particular interest of one or several companies , which is why those in charge of the office would have charged for their intermediation above the market, according to the suspicion of the investigators with the Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office in charge. “Clients were not paying so much for the content of the reports, but for the supposed capacity of influence that the consultancy could have”, warns a lobbyist familiar with the way EE operates. “They offered the guarantee of getting a reform”, he adds.
María Rosa Rotondo, president of the Association of Institutional Relations Professionals, is decisive when it comes to making the difference very clear. “There is a radical difference between the activity that we carry out, which is to transfer legitimate interests, represent opinions and obtain and offer information, and those that develop in the dark and undoubtedly promote corruption.” The lobbyist sets the line that differentiates both activities: it is none other than the one marked by the crime of influence peddling included in the Penal Code. “For those who do not know the legal importance of the term prevailing, the border between lobbying and the crime of influence peddling could seem fuzzy. However, several times the courts of justice, both Spanish and European, have left the line between the two concepts perfectly clear”, he warns.
A parliamentarian explains what the relationship with lobbies is like. A deputy must have the authorization of the parliamentary group before holding any meeting with representatives of interest groups. He claims that relations with lobbies are important because they are the experts in the sector, the ones who are in touch with reality. They seek to convince the deputies that the reform or proposal they propose is good for the sector. They do a job of explaining and convincing. And if they succeed, in any case it will be the party that ultimately endorses promoting it. What cannot be done, explains another lobbyist, is to pay for sumptuous lunches or dinners, because then it could be understood as consideration.
This is the case of Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, known as Tito Berni, splashed by the Mediator operation, which is why he is currently being investigated. According to the judicial investigations, this ex-MP for the Canary Islands received businessmen in Congress and then allowed himself to be invited to dinners with parties included.
But, undoubtedly, both from the parliamentary world and from the lobbyist, they are clear that relations must be regulated. There are currently several registers such as the transparency register of the European Union, or of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and this is the first register of lobbies created in Spain. In the last legislature, the PSOE tried to promote, although not with particular enthusiasm, a law in order to regulate lobbies, but it ultimately fell through with the calling of early elections.
The reform aims to add a new title XIV to the regulations of the Lower House under the name “Interest Groups”. The purpose of this title is to regulate the influence of these groups and their representatives in the agreements made by the Congress of Deputies. The proposal seeks to approve a code of conduct and include offenses for non-compliance.
