Jonathan Hill was not well known when he became the UK’s member of the European Commission, and he has kept his profile low since arriving in Brussels last year. But he outshines his Commission colleagues in one key category: meetings with lobbyists.

Hill held 59 meetings with lobbyists between November 2014 and last week, according to his official website. The commissioner, who is expected to reveal plans for a capital markets union later this year, met mainly with lobbyists from the banking and financial sector, his disclosures show. These included such financial sector players as UBS, Goldman Sachs (twice), the London Stock Exchange Group, Commerzbank, HSBC and BNP Paribas.

The EU’s stricter new transparency rules require public disclosure of all meetings between European commissioners (or their top staff) and lobbyists — a category that includes companies, consultancies, non-governmental organizations and trade associations. The rules also cover meetings with the commissioners themselves, their cabinets, and directors-general.

“We have nothing to hide,” declared Jean-Claude Juncker in November 2014, shortly after taking office as president of the Commission, when he announced the new requirements.

Since then Commission websites have listed meetings with lobby groups, or as they are known in the Brussels parlance, “stakeholders.” POLITICO combed through 98 webpages with the relevant information — 28 Commissioners, 28 cabinets and 32 directors-general — to find who held the most meetings and who has disclosed the fewest.

The key findings

Commissioners declared more than 570 meetings with lobbyists during since November; their cabinets disclosed more than 2,100. “We tried to arrange meetings with everyone who is asking,” said a source in one commissioner’s cabinet.

But not all meetings are disclosed. The rules say social encounters, political party meetings, meetings with other institutions and public events do not have to be listed. Neither to meetings with whistle-blowers, reporters and meetings that can disrupt market stability or can be “commercially sensitive.”

Tied for second place after Hill on the disclosed meetings list for commissioners are Miguel Arias Cañete, who is in charge of climate action and energy, and Violeta Bulc, transport. Both disclosed 42 official meetings with lobbyists during the past five months.

Cecilia Malmström, the commissioner for trade, is also in the top ranks of commissioners disclosing meetings with lobbyists, with 41. In addition to declaring such meetings, Malmström has responded to criticism about the secrecy of negotiations on several trade deals by also disclosing her correspondence on key issues.

By contrast, Juncker declared only six official meetings with “stakeholders” during the same time period — putting him near the bottom of the rankings.

But a look at his public weekly calendars shows meetings that didn’t make it into the transparency disclosures. For instance, the calendar shows he met Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of Atos Group on February 16, and Pierre Gattaz, the president of the movement of French companies (MEDEF) on February 18. Bill and Melinda Gates also met with Juncker for a chat with their foundation on January 22. None of these meetings were disclosed as lobbying encounters.

Contacted by POLITICO, Juncker’s staff admitted there was no automatic synchronization between the weekly calendar and the transparency initiative.

Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini disclosed the fewest official meetings with lobbyists since last November, listing just two, and her list included no meetings before April 16.

Mogherini is not required to disclose meetings she holds abroad as the EU’s foreign policy chief. Her staff says that only meetings held in her office in Brussels will be considered worthy of disclosure.

Other commissioners listing only a handful of official meetings were: Corina Creţu, with two; Dimitris Avramopoulos, three; Neven Mimica and Kristalina Georgieva, four; Johannes Hahn and Christos Stylianides, five.

Topping the charts for commissioners’ cabinets was that of Jyrki Katainen, the vice president for investment, growth and jobs. His staff held 229 meetings with lobbyists since November. The cabinet with the fewest meetings listed was that of Avramopoulous, who is in charge of migration, home affairs and citizenship.

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