The statement of the president (no, if he is the former in this issue) Rodríguez Zapatero at the meeting of the Senate, was intended to unmask the need to regulate the lobby.
No regulation is bad for everyone, especially lobbyists. If you act like this without clear regulation, the water will become turbulent.
Lobbying is the activity of individuals or entities to defend their interests before public authorities. Especially before legislation.
European legislation, which is guided by reality, recognizes that: a) citizens must defend their interests against public ownership; (b) there is no human formula to prevent it; c) yes no, if done in a regulated manner, it will be produced in the dark.
The way it was before implementation The US opted for regular exercises.
According to the legislation, a lobby must be established in the office of the Chamber of Deputies (Congress) before the European legislative session.
In addition, your operations, especially financial companies, must be transparent. All expenses over $10 with representatives or senators or their teams must be reported to this office.
This type of operation must also be known to future voters. You will then vote carefully with the information you have.
Zapatero acknowledged in the Senate that he was informed by a company whose only task was to make a million profit from the public funds of the airline Plus Ultra. Since the citizens were not regulated, we entered this investigative committee and through the communication media. Transparent has no sides.
Zapatero attributed this to personal consulting work and his hijas. He is in a state of autonomy and his hijah through society.
Was it consulting or lobbying? Before the regulatory failure of the lobby, it cannot be legally confirmed that one thing or the other was.
The advice is legal and upon inquiry is fiscally approved for what you have to pay. Questions about the price and form of the consultation are not relevant; they do not contribute anything to the classification of the item. It’s a strange insight a complaint from one of them can bring him to court.
Lobby in Spain, considering that the error in the legal regulation is “legal”. If it is possible to have an ethical evaluation of the operation and the overall aesthetics. But legally it does not exist.
It’s ugly that a non-multi-operational firm that manages assistance for the Plus Ultra airline has to advise the (former) president and receives a continuation of the mountain of thousands of the same party government. So ugly that it justified the opposition to cite Rodríguez Zapatero to the parliamentary committee.
Anything unsightly is probably unethical. And above all, not acting ethically.
Should a (former) president be considered unethical before citizenship? No. “Cesar’s wife must be honest and it must appear so.
The (former) president is a relevant part of the world “the so-called political class”.
The image of politicians in Spain is degraded enough to raise further suspicions, whether founded or unfounded.
To avoid these doubts, suspicions or uncertainties, it is best to regulate the lobby.
Do it in a transparent way, like in the EEUU. intonation, if it is done outside the regulation, it is a criminal offense judged by the courts.
This regulation must include a number of incompatibilities in order for this lobby to apply. Can presidents fulfill their mandates? Has the high cost of government and administration passed several years of the army of its function?
In fact, it is possible to legally qualify the actions as those of Sr. Rodríguez Zapatero. It is also possible that probably the same will be analyzed with more attention to his actions and or not the same or he will change his choreography.
Congress is through a legislative regulation on the transparency and integrity of the activities of interest groups. She was registered on entry on February 7, 2025 (over a year!)
Why don’t you use it over? What interests are difficult to write about? We are forced to suspect…
** JR Pin Arboledas is an IESE professor.
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