The EU transparency register is a database listing organisations that "try to influence the law-making and policy implementation process" of EU institutions | Fox Photos/Getty Images Parliament adopts transparency rules on MEPs meeting lobbyists Need now for a stronger EU transparency register for lobbyists before parliament election in May, says Green MEP.

The European Parliament adopted Thursday unprecedented rules that will make it mandatory for leading MEPs to publish online a list of their meetings with registered lobbyists.

The amendment says "rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs shall, for each report, publish online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives falling under the scope of the Transparency register."

The EU transparency register is a database listing organisations that "try to influence the law-making and policy implementation process" of EU institutions, according to the Commission.

The proposal was initially pushed by the Greens and was included in a resolution adopted in 2017 on transparency, accountability and integrity in EU institutions. But Parliament and Council had been reluctant to commit themselves to any binding rules.

"The Parliament's new transparency rule is a major step forward for European democracy," said Sven Giegold, a Green MEP and the rapporteur of the 2017 resolution. "In future, citizens will have clarity about the influence of lobbying on laws."

Giegold said the Commission and Council must now reach agreement with Parliament on "a stronger EU transparency register for lobbyists before the European election [in May]."

So far, he said, "the voluntary register of transparency allows only a rough overview of the approximately 12,000 lobby organisations in Brussels."

MEPs also rejected a proposal backed by the Socialists and Democrats, the European Peoples' Party and the Liberals which would have given MEPs the ability to judge whether members of a group have sufficient "political affinity” to form a group and get funding.

Instead, they adopted another amendment, which clarifies existing rules and requires a group to send the Parliament's president a "political declaration setting out the purpose of the group," and "the names of its members and bureau members."

The text also requires all members of the group to "declare in writing... that they share the same political affinity."

The rejection of the first amendment was a victory for small parties who saw it as an attempt by larger groups to deprive them of cash and influence.

“This vote represents a great victory of citizens against the old parties,” said Fabio Massimo Castaldo, an MEP from Italy's Five Star movement.