Over the past two and a half years, lobbyists have declared 2.5 times more declarations (1963) than individuals who have experienced lobbying influence (792). The majority of declared lobbying activities pertain to the Law on Pharmacy and legislation related to trade in marketplaces, lotteries, electronic communications, and the regulation of tobacco and tobacco products, according to the analysis of lobbying activity data conducted by Transparency International Lithuania, available on the www.manoseimas.lt.
Since 2021, when the Law on Lobbying Activities was amended, the number of registered lobbyists has nearly tripled — from 122 lobbyists in December 2020 to 330 lobbyists in August 2023.
The Lithuanian Business Confederation published the most declarations of all registered lobbyists (265 declarations), followed by the Lithuanian Industrialists’ Confederation (115 declarations), Vytenis Butkevičius (83 declarations), Kristina Nemaniūtė-Gagė (74 declarations), Arnas Neverauskas (66 declarations), and the association Investors’ Forum (66 declarations). Three out of five registered lobbyists did not publish a single transparency declaration.
In total, 174 politicians and civil servants published at least one declaration. The most active in this regard were the Vice Minister of Economy and Innovation Ieva Valeškaitė (48 declarations), Member of the Parliament Lukas Savickas (33 declarations), Minister of Agriculture Kęstutis Navickas (32 declarations), Minister of the Environment Simonas Gentvilas (28 declarations), and Member of the Parliament Andrius Bagdonas (25 declarations). Representatives from three municipalities (Kaišiadorys district, Kaunas city, Vilnius city) published declarations noting lobbying activities carried out in their respect.
Most often, beneficiaries mentioned in lobbyist declarations are members of associations. Members of the Lithuanian Business Confederation were mentioned more than a hundred times (179 times), followed by members of the Lithuanian Industrialists’ Confederation (107 times).
“I am pleased that the new regulation of lobbying activities has brought more transparency, and we have more data on decision-making. For example, we see that only about one in ten politicians or civil servants has published declarations noting lobbying activities carried out in their respect regarding specific legislation. Clearly, it is essential to ensure better quality in the collection and disclosure of data so that we can properly enable it. In addressing this issue, I would like both politicians and the Chief Official Ethics Commission to take a more active role” said Ingrida Kalinauskienė, the Chief Executive Officer of Transparency International Lithuania.
As of January 1, 2021, the new version of the Law on Lobbying Activities came into force and one of the main changes being that both sides (lobbyists and politicians or civil servants who receive proposals regarding specific legislation) must declare lobbying activities.
This review provides data on lobbying activities obtained in November 2022 and August 2023 based on Transparency International Lithuania inquiries to the Chief Official Ethics Commission. Transparency International Lithuania did not separately assess whether the provided data complied with the provisions of the Law on Lobbying Activities.
You can find a brief overview of the results here, full report here, and more detailed information can be accessed at www.manoseimas.lt.
For more information, please contact Ingrida Kalinauskienė, ingrida@transparency.lt, +370 5 212 69 51.
The initiative is financed from the European Union Internal Security Fund – Police.