IP

More than half of the people on the last European Commission and nearly a third in the previous European Parliament have joined EU lobbies, Transparency International said, AFP reported.

The group said it had carried out the first full analysis of such moves, which showed that 50 percent of ex-commissioners and 30 percent of former MEPs were now working for organizations on the EU lobby register.

In one case, 57 percent of the accredited lobbyists for the US hi-tech giant Google had previously worked for EU institutions.

It said the trend, which was also happening in the United States, raised the risk of favors, group think and the exchange of insider knowledge about how to circumvent EU regulations.

"Most worrying are those situations where senior decision-makers from the EU move directly into positions where they seek to influence former colleagues or their staff or join organizations they have previously regulated," the watchdog said.