- Improvements needed in lobbying control in Hesse
Hessen's state government and parliament have made some progress in the transparency of their political work, but there is still a significant need for improvement, according to a new investigation by Transparency Germany. In its ranking of federal states, Thuringia is at the top, while Hessen is in ninth place, and Bremen is last.
Federal states that were already relatively good have improved the most with the help of new regulations, said Norman Loeckel of Transparency Germany. However, there is a worrying standstill among the states at the bottom of the ranking. "Apparently, many decision-makers lack the necessary political will for modern rules for clean politics, despite the crumbling trust in democratic institutions."
Hessen improved its ranking by introducing a lobby register in 2023. Anyone representing their interests in the state parliament, government, or members of parliament must declare this in the register.
The investigation looked at four criteria for an honest and transparent policy: whether a state has a lobby register and how it is designed, whether the involvement of lobbyists in laws is disclosed through a "legislative footprint", whether there are cooling-off periods for government members and top officials when they move from politics to the private sector, and what rules of conduct, disclosure requirements, and prohibitions exist for secondary activities of members of parliament. Each of these criteria accounted for 25% of the overall evaluation.
Thuringia is at the top, Bremen is last.
None of the states performed as well as the federal government, which Transparency now considers to have fairly good lobby and transparency rules, scoring 71%. Thuringia leads the states with a score of 69%. The organization praises the state for presenting a lobby register in June. The following states, Bavaria (54%) and Baden-Württemberg (53%), have increased their distance from the middle field thanks to new cooling-off period regulations. Hessen scores 26%.
According to Transparency, Bremen (9%), the last place, lacks such rules, as well as a lobby register and a legislative footprint in laws. In this state, which has been governed by the SPD for decades, "awareness and sensitization for this political integrity is not very pronounced - in the sense of actually giving oneself real rules for it," said Loeckel. "In Bremen, it is the task of the media to keep an eye on this."
In the ranking of transparent and honest policies among German federal states, Bremen unfortunately finds itself at the bottom, while Thuringia tops the list. Despite being governed by the SPD for several decades, Bremen lacks essential rules such as a lobby register and a legislative footprint in laws.
