The secretive €6M EU lobby group paying for lawmakers to stay in fancy hotels

LONDON ― An opaque self-styled “think tank” that offers businesses access to EU politicians and regulators has raked in almost €6 million in fees from the finance industry, POLITICO can reveal, fueling concerns about lack of transparency and cash-for-influence. 
The sheer scale of Eurofi’s income now makes it one of the largest groups lobbying the EU ― despite it having only three full-time staff and no publicly available accounts.
Its main operation involves arranging a twice-yearly behind-closed-doors lobbying extravaganza in the runup to meetings of EU finance ministers that attracts top European officials, central bankers and finance insiders.
Senior members of the European Parliament with influential roles in financial legislation disclosed Eurofi paid for their stays at swish hotels and some of their travel.
The organization reached a budget of €5.7 million in 2023 through fees from its members, which include the biggest banks, stock exchanges and tech giants ― including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and American Express ― according to July transparency disclosures, the first publicly available information on its finances for years.
While there is no question of wrongdoing, the situation raises concerns about the nature of lobbying in the EU: Who is paying, and how much ― and what sort of influence is their money buying? The clout of the financial sector in Brussels has been visible in recent years, with the introduction of lighter-touch rules for banks and insurers than regulators demanded, and notable success in tempering reforms that might damage the sector’s interests.“It’s one of the most opaque groups I can think of,” said Kenneth Haar, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory, a non-profit campaign body. “It’s really weird to have such a big budget with only a few people.”
Eurofi’s setup is unlike other big lobbies in Brussels, which bulk out their offices to try to sway policy and win the ear of top Eurocrats. Eurofi insists it doesn’t represent the interests of the financial industry, and merely provides a platform for discussion.
But its financial heft now elevates it to among the largest lobbying organizations in Brussels, just behind tech giants like Google and Apple, which have invested huge resources into influencing Brussels machinery. It has a membership of more than 100 financial players and its budget increased by almost 50 percent since the last available figure of €3.9 million for 2020, making only Insurance Europe a larger lobby group for the financial industry.
That means it has more resources than the major banking lobbies, the powerful pharmaceutical industry lobby (the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations), and the business group BusinessEurope.
“It has very easy access to civil servants and decision-makers, and when they increase their budget, they will just get even more access,” Haar said.
The agenda for its Budapest shindig in September, seen by POLITICO, reads like a who’s who at the top of financial regulation and includes French Central Bank Governor François Villeroy de Galhau, European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño and European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. Hundreds of industry representatives are expected to attend.
A number of finance lobbyists have told POLITICO they have qualms about Eurofi because of its eye-watering costs and private setup but feel they would miss out if they did not attend its conferences.
POLITICO made repeated attempts to contact Eurofi so that it could answer questions raised in this article, including about its lack of transparency.
Several emails to an address on its website went unanswered. Jean-Marie Andres, Eurofi senior fellow, who answered a call to a number listed on the transparency register, initially responded to questions but then sent an email to say he wasn’t authorized to talk to journalists.
The gist of what he said was that Eurofi shouldn’t be seen as a lobbyist but as an organizer of discussions. Its bigger budget reflected inflation and the need to hire larger venues.
In its public disclosure, Eurofi insists that it “does not represent commercial interests” and acts “in a general interest perspective for the improvement of the overall financial market.” 
Transparency campaigners say that’s at odds with the fact that it is funded by massive finance firms like Amazon Web Services and J.P. Morgan, which pay Eurofi for the privilege of being able to corner regulators at its conferences.
Eurofi charges its industry members fees of €50,000, financial insiders say. A table at the gala dinner, a room for meetings, or a spot for a CEO on a panel all incur extra charges.
Eurofi is lent credibility by its history — it was set up by former French central bank governor Jacques de Larosière — and through its ties to the presidency of the Council of the EU, which rotates between countries every six months.
It is fronted by David Wright, a former British EU official, and led day-to-day by Frenchman Didier Cahen.
Conferences take place in the days ahead of a meeting of finance ministers in the country at the helm, meaning top officials are already in town.
Lobbyists, regulators, officials and diplomats all say the actual conference is a dull sideshow, stuffed with male-only panels and controlled debates, compared to the lobbying jamboree around it that takes place over casual coffees and drinks.
It takes place entirely behind closed doors. Journalists are banned and POLITICO was ejected from the lobby area of the hotel hosting last fall’s conference in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Despite the criticism over the costs and lack of transparency, EU officials continue to attend in force.
Eurofi has covered the costs of getting the politicians who have led rewrites of financial rules, to attend, according to public filings.
German lawmaker Markus Ferber, French MEP Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, Dutch lawmaker Paul Tang and Spanish MEP Jonás Fernández have all disclosed Eurofi paid for swanky hotels and some of their travel to attend events between 2021 and 2023.