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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Banks, insurance companies and other players in the financial sector are trying to influence laws in the Bundestag by spending millions and employing hundreds of lobbyists. According to an evaluation by the citizens' movement Finanzwende, no other industry is as strongly represented among the 100 financially strongest lobby players as the financial industry. This emerges from the publicly accessible lobby register of the Bundestag, the association explained. Accordingly, 11 of the 100 lobbyists with the largest budgets are banks, insurance companies and investment companies.

The automotive sector, which is also powerful in public appearances, has six entries among the 100 most financially powerful lobbyists, and the energy sector has nine entries. According to the analysis by Finanzwende, the top 10 financial lobby groups and associations together spend more than 42.5 million euros a year on cultivating contacts and trying to influence politics.

The lobby register has been maintained on the website of the German Bundestag for a year. It is intended to make visible who influences political decisions and legislation. Professional lobbyists must register there - exceptions currently exist for trade unions, employers' associations and churches, among others.

Lobbyists must provide information on their clients and areas of interest, as well as on the personnel and financial costs of their lobbying activities with the Bundestag and the German government. They are obliged to adhere to a specified code of conduct. Violations of this code can result in a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

Within a year, more than 5500 companies, associations, organizations, networks, individuals and others have registered in the register. The number of designated employees who directly exercise interest representation is more than 13,000.

"The financial lobby in particular benefits considerably from exercising its influence in secret," said Finanzwende Managing Director Daniel Mittler. "The lobby register is a good start to counter backroom deals - but the regulations are nowhere near strict enough."

According to Finanzwende, the frontrunner in lobby spending is the German Insurance Association (GDV). It represents the interests of insurance companies and invested around 15 million euros for this purpose in 2021. Up to 150 lobbyists pulled the strings for GDV.

The register contained a great deal of previously inaccessible information, Finanzwende praised. This includes not only information on lobby budgets, but also the visibility of networks. Deutsche Bank, for example, is a member of 57 organizations, including obvious ones such as the German Bankers Association, but also the German Wind Energy Association, the Atlantic Bridge and the New Social Market Economy Initiative.

However, not all lobby contacts are listed. For example, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and his state secretaries have met several times with representatives of banks that do not appear in the lobby register, criticized Finanzwende. The state-owned development bank KfW is also not listed in the register, although representatives regularly meet with ministers and members of parliament. The state-owned bank pointed out that, as an institution under public law, it was not obliged to enter its name in the register.

Finanzwende also complained that lobbying agencies working on behalf of clients were not required to provide further information on their clients, volumes and objectives. In addition, the register lacked information on which laws and decisions the work of a lobby actor was specifically aimed at, as well as stricter rules for side changers.

In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Green and FDP parties have undertaken to tighten up the register introduced by the previous government. Among other things, a so-called executive and legislative footprint is to be introduced: It should be possible to see which stakeholders have influenced all new laws. So far, however, this has not been initiated.

The citizens' movement Finanzwende, which evaluated the industry's lobbying activities, is also listed in the register as a lobbyist. A budget of 450,000 to 460,000 euros per year is indicated, with up to 20 employees "in the field of lobbying."/tam/DP/mis