Italiaan 'spamde' EU-lobbyregister om zijn imago op te vijzelen (en) - Hoofdinhoud
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Italian lobby "spam" author intended no harm to the EU's lobby registry, he has claimed, adding that he believes in the European ideal.
Gennaro Ruggiero - the man behind a string of apparently false listings in the European Commission and European Parliament databases of Brussels lobbyists dubbed "spam" by a pro-transparency NGO - has told EUobserver he signed up to give his organisations "a more international image".
"I believe in the European Commission because we need a joined-up Europe," he said. "I would never try to damage it."
Mr Ruggiero explained that he has no connection to Fares Bank, other than that it asked him to design its website and put it on the commission list. His other 12 organisations had the same, rudimentary look.
The Fares Bank entry set off alarm bells when it reported an annual spend of €250 million on lobbying EU institutions, exceeding by a factor of 20 the spend of major PR firms.
The €250 million figure was a clerical error, Mr Ruggiero said, blaming "insufficient acquaintance with English," which saw him post the bank's total turnover not its EU spend.
The sum itself was also a bit off, he added. "I wanted to say that the Fares Bank has a turnover of €250,000 not €250 million."
Since the initial report of the lobby spam incident on Friday (13 February), the Fares Bank website has disappeared from the internet and calls to its London phone number go unanswered.
Virtual Serviced Offices (VSO), which maintains an identical Harley Street, London, address to that of Fares Bank, said it is not familiar with the organisation.
VSO offers a mail forwarding service and a phone and fax line for £125 (€140) for three months for individuals or organisations that need a UK business trading address but do not actually operate from Britain.
No bank has ever required its help before, VSO sales executive Delphine Perrier said. "We don't deal with that type of company."
Real organisations
The phantom Fares Bank aside, Mr Ruggiero says that the other organisations he listed with the EU registry are non-profit associations that actually exist.
"Our associations involve themselves in solidarity activities, international humanitarian co-operation, and bringing together freelance journalists," he explained.
Almost none of the websites have telephone or postal contact details, but only online response forms.
Mr Ruggiero last year also founded "Save Forza Italia" - a group designed to stop Silvio Berlusconi's centre right Forza Italia party from dissolving into ll Poppolo della Liberta - a broader right-wing bloc.
But Mr Ruggiero resigned his group in January saying it had served its purpose. "I have always voted and supported Forza Italia and Silvio Berlusconi ... and will vote for the PDL in the next elections."
Ruin a reputation
The European Commission has suspended the registration of 11 organisations and notes that the author of the Fares Bank registration has erased the listing, but says the incident has not brought into question the rest of the data in the lobby registry.
"The registry is a mix of regulation, self-regulation and peer review," commission spokeswoman Valerie Rampi said. "The commission itself does not do any validation. The data is checked by transparency NGOs and journalists - which is what is happening here."
Ms Rampi said that the commission had received two complaints over the matter in the last week and a total of five for alleged false registration of data since the lobby registry was launched in June last year.
"This shows the system is working," she said. "If you have false or wrong information, far from giving you a good 'international image,' it can ruin the reputation of your organisation instead."