EU Parliament: “cash-for-laws” or “cash-for-amendments”, its all in a days work for a lobbyist

On a scale of zero-to-Jack Abramoff, it barely rates a mention.

But for the European Parliament (EP), the current scandal is a doozy, involving members who went so far as to request amendments to legislation in exchange for promises of cash from lobbyists — lobbyists who turned out to be journalists from The Sunday Times investigating how much influence they could buy.

“We need to learn the lessons of this unhappy episode,” said EP President Jerzy Buzek.


“Episode” is an apt term, since video of some of the meetings between lawmakers and the fake lobbyists is available on the internet. Of the 60 MEPs the undercover reporters approached over an eight-month period, offering payments up to 100,000 euros in exchange for presenting amendments on banking legislation, they say 14 showed interest in continuing the conversations and four actually went through with it.

For more: European Parliament | Lobbying | Resignations | Sunday Times