Justice Ministry has no interest in promoting lobbying legislation (ministerial official)

The Justice Ministry has its reservations over the regulation of lobbying under a framework law, as it is the proponent of secondary legislation being amended where needed, State Secretary with the Justice Ministry Adrian Baboi-Stoe said Tuesday. 

"The Justice Ministry has constantly had its reservations over the past ten years over the need for lobbying to be regulated under a framework law," Baboi-Stroe told a public affairs summit meeting held on Tuesday by the Association of the Romanian Lobbying Registry. 

He explained that a first reason for the ministry's position is to avoid confusion being generated between lobbying and influence peddling. 

"This is a major risk, and so we preferred not to open the gate to such risks. We would rather not undertake them," the official added. 

"Secondly, we do not see why the Government should step in in the establishment of rules for the exercise of a private entity profession. The Justice Ministry has a very small interest in regulating that," said Baboi-Stroe. 

He mentioned that although improvements are necessary, for instance in making parliamentary decisions and the agenda of the Government members transparent, but that can be achieved by amending secondary legislation. 

"We have a legal framework that is developed enough and we should look into how to implement it or modify secondary legislation," added the Justice Ministry official. AGERPRES