Today my parliamentary committee held a public hearing on lobbying in the European Union. Brussels is, apparently, home to as many lobbyists as Washington DC - and we all know that in the latter, 22 Congressmen and staffers are currently in jail having been convicted or indicted on corruption charges related to the activities of lobbyists.

Fortunately, we do not have the American political system whereby election campaigns of Congressmen and Senators require vast amounts of money to pay for individualised advertisements on television. In most European countries, like Britain, there is guaranteed fair and free access for political parties to television coverage, ceilings on expenditure during election campaigns, and the bulk of campaigning activity is organised and paid for by parties rather than the individual MPs. Furthermore, we have permanent civil servants - and do not have whole departments whose staff change in function of the election results with a keen vested interests in helping the campaign of one side or another.

In most European countries, and in the European Union, lobbyists do not exercise influence by making campaign contributions in the American way but have to rely more on force of persuasion and argument. Fortunately, on any given issue, there are a variety of lobbyists: producers and consumers, employers and trade unionists, NGOs of all kinds from environmental campaigners to consumer protection activists. It is the job of the MEP to listen to the various points of view and then to exercise judgement, remembering that as elected representatives they are accountable to the electorate as a whole, not a particular sector or interest.

The European Parliament actually has stricter rules than many national parliaments as regards the access of lobbyists to the Parliament. Lobbyists must register with the Parliament, wear a special badge and accept to comply with a code of conduct, failing which their pass will be removed. MEPs are prohibited from accepting gifts and they must declare and register any material support in terms of staff or finance granted to them in connection with their political activities.

Discussions are now underway to see whether the Commission and the Parliament should have a common set of rules on these matters and whether they can oblige all lobbyists to declare and publish their own financial sources and list of people they have contacted. If adopted, such proposals would place the European institutions well ahead of the average in terms of transparency and regulation of interest groups and lobbyists. Parliament's rapporteur on this is the Finnish Conservative Alexander Stubb MEP who is a refreshing contrast to the British Conservatives.