He Government Legislation aimed at combating revolving doors and theoretically thwarting former transport minister Isabel Pardo de Vera Chairman of the Association of Rental Housing Owners (Asval). Standard strives Brusselsbut his trial was frozen for several months.

He Council of Ministers approved the draft project in the first reading in November 2022. But just a few hours before it could be submitted to a second reading for inclusion in the Cortes General, the rate fell from election appeal promotion Pedro Sanchez May 29. The draft law on transparency and integrity in the activities of interest groups is not expected to pass the Moncloa filter until the end of the year, civil service sources said.

He Recovery plan makes clear that the regulation is set to take effect in the fourth quarter of 2024, so it could still take several months for the executive branch to get started. The intention of the department he leads Maria Jesus Montero to resume the legislative process next year, which will have to start from the very beginning.

Attempt to sign the agenda of the former Minister of Transport, Mobility and Cities lobby thanks to large investment funds such as black stone was highly controversial because his ministry mandate included negotiating a new Housing Act, which includes rent restrictions in stressed areas and other issues to be worked out in that legislature.

Just hours after Aswal’s intentions became known, sources close to Pardo de Vera ruled out the possibility that she would end up taking the position for which she was offered, just nine months after leaving her post in the administration under Asval command. minister Rachel Sanchez as a result of the crisis caused by the failure to fulfill a contract for the supply of metric gauge trains for Asturias and Cantabria.

The bill, which the government has been keeping in its desk drawer, aims to regulate relations between the lobby and senior government officials for the first time. In particular, the text establishes that for two years after dismissal, civil servants will not be able to gain access to professional activities that have influence in matters related to their powers. This was intended as an innovative provision, requested by parties of all political stripes, which would change the law governing the exercise of the highest office of Parliament. Main State Administration (AGE). However, moving forward has become difficult.

Today, high-ranking central government officials have to seek permission to enter into labor relations with companies. For example, Office of Conflicts of Interest (OCI) rejected the request of the former minister last year Jose Luis Abalos participate in public meetings Media networksince, while in government, he himself approved direct subsidies to television networks, among which was the Italian group.

According to what he announced, Pardo de Vera would ask the same OCI for permission to join the rental fund lobby. Confidential. This body, dependent on the Ministry of Finance, is responsible for studying the transition to the private sector, known as the “revolving door”. However, the office tends to authorize the vast majority of private activities of high-ranking government officials. From its creation in 2006 until 2021, it recorded just 14 incompatibilities and allowed more than 650 transfers to the private sector, the executive was then forced to report.

The transparency portal reports that since the beginning of the year, the OIC has approved 36 senior officials for various transfers to the private sector. One of the latest is the case of Ignacio Bengoechea, the second Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, who signed a contract with the consulting firm Acento, founded by the former socialist development minister José Blanco and headed by the popular “Alfonso Alonso”. Among their ranks is also the former Secretary of State Jose Maria Lasalleformer European parliamentarian Elena Valenciano and former labor minister Valeriano Gómez.

Asval is an association representing the supply segment of the rental market and has more than 6,000 members. The intention of the association, which is still led by the former Minister of Industry and former Socialist mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, was supposed to be put to a vote on December 20 this year. And if it is approved by the OIC, it will come into force on January 1.

Tenants’ unions in Madrid and Catalonia called it “intolerable” that Pardo de Vera could join the “lobby” of rentiers and tenants. vulture funds”, since they see this as a “clear case of conflict of interest.” For them, it is a sign that “real estate employers have managed to parasitize the very heart from which public housing policy is developed in the state, in the ministry whose task should be to ensure rights to housing, but which became a branch of the rentier.

Law regulating the activities of “lobbies”

The new rule will be the first at the state level to regulate relationships between top government officials and interest groups. The draft establishes that these high-ranking officials will be prohibited from carrying out lobbying activities related to their powers for two years after leaving office.

The text also states that influence activities would be those that a group or organization undertakes in an attempt to legitimately influence government officials in preparing a regulatory proposal.

“High-ranking officials who took part in the adoption of this decision will be required for a period of two years not to engage in professional influence activities on any of the issues related to the powers of the department, department or organization in which they worked. Therefore, they will not be able to work for the “lobbies” included in the Register of Interest Groups when they cease their public activities. Something that takes shape in the reform of Article 15 of Law 3/2015 of March 30, regulating the exercise of the highest positions of the General Directorate of the State,” says the address of the Council of Ministers of December 8, 2022.

According to Montero, this new norm is the result of the government’s “commitment to improve the democratic quality of our country” and will take a big step forward in terms of transparency and good governance, and will put Spain on par with the democracies of its neighboring countries. “All groups that are privately organized to further their own interests or the interests of third parties are included within the purpose of this rule,” the vice president explained.

State administrations, public organizations and public international organizations or foreign government bodies, as well as political parties, business organizations, unions or any other entities such as vocational colleges- in the exercise of their constitutional functions.

On the other hand, the preliminary project involves the creation Register of interest groups, which will be mandatory for registration and which specifies which individuals and legal entities may be considered as such. It will also determine which profiles of the General State Directorate will have to take into account what is established in its articles when meeting or contacting certain groups or individuals.

A country It has already been published that political groups suggested that the law would not pass, at least in the last legislature, due to a lack of understanding and consensus between the parties. This is despite Europe demanding ambitious regulation in this regard.