The Camera dei Deputati, the Italian lower house, finally approved a law to regulate lobbying activities with 339 votes in favour, 49 abstentions and 0 against! This is a historic moment because, in 46 years, 96 bills have gone up in smoke. So today we celebrate, but the road is still long and arduous: the ball is in the Senate's court. We now have about a year to accomplish our mission. Above all, a good law must also include transparency obligations for Confindustria, Italy’s largest business association, and the trade unions.

What's that saying from Horace? Ah yes, 'what's well begun is half done'. Well, we are starting 2022 with a historic milestone! The law on lobbying is finally becoming a reality in Italy, but there is still a lot of work to be done. As the saying goes, we are at the halfway point: the Senate must not only approve the law by the beginning of 2023, before the end of the legislature. Above all, the the text must improve. Here are the salient points:

• Eliminating 'discounts' for Confindustria, business associations, trade unions and religious denominations, for which the same transparency obligations should apply as for all other entities;

• Raising the cooling-off period (a rule to prevent revolving doors) to at least two years and extending it to MPs;

• Making meetings between senior managers with signatory powers and lobbyists traceable.

At the Good Lobby, as we prepare to 'lobby' the Senate we enjoy this victory and tell you how we got to the “Approval Day”.

What happened in the Chamber

"Save the date", as the English say. We will certainly mark this day because after years of hard work, on 12 January at 10 a.m. the debate began on the proposed law 196-721-1827 Disciplina dell'attività di rappresentanza degli interessi particolari e istituzione del registro pubblico dei rappresentanti di interessi (alias Lobbying law). First, the amendments were voted on, almost all of them presented by members of the parliamentary opposition and minority (Fratelli d'Italia, L'alternativa c'é and Non-enrolled).

We felt we could support some of these amendments, such as the one proposing to entrust the CNEL (National Council for the Economy and Labour) with the management of the Transparency Register, or the one to reintroduce business associations, trade unions and religious denominations within the scope of the transparency obligations. We also felt that a number of small changes to the definition of 'public decision-makers', which would have introduced rules to prevent conflicts of interest (another big battle of The Good Lobby), also went in the right direction.

However, all amendments were rejected and the voting intentions went ahead. The government majority's objective was to reach an agreement on the text before the election of the President of the Republic (voting will start on 24th January). On the one hand, this allowed the proposed law to remain in place and continue its approval process in the Senate, but on the other, it restricted the space for parliamentary debate and meant that the text approved at the first reading was the result of a watered-down compromise.

At 12.43pm the law was approved! We in the #Lobbying4change coalition, the 34 civil society organisations that made this result possible, are happy to have reached this milestone, but we will not let our guard down and will continue to strive by all means to have a good law, improving it in every necessary aspect.

What now? Now it is the turn of the Senate, which will deal with the matter after the election of the President of the Republic. We need all support to win our campaign. If we have arrived at this first great result it is also thanks to those who signed our petition on the introduction of a lobbying law in Italy and shared our posts. Please, keep supporting us and, if you haven't already done so. Thank you very much!

About the Author

Fabio Rotondo is Policy Officer at the Good Lobby Italy. The Good Lobby (TGL) is a non-profit civic start-up committed to equalising access to power for a more plural, inclusive and democratic society. It seeks to inspire, train and help citizens to influence major policy decisions, hold their political representatives accountable and share new solutions with these officials.