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Lobbyists have a bad reputation.
They are indispensable for this.
Take a member of parliament who is working on a new law on wind power.
Of course, she wants to know how the providers of alternative and fossil fuels think about it.
The farmers and foresters.
The tourism industry.
The bird and nature conservation associations.
Maybe the people from Fridays for Future, who see themselves as a climate lobby.
Our MP would be in default if she did not talk to all of these people.
The law would be unenforceable if it weren't for a compromise between different interests.
Lobbying has nothing to do with corruption.
When a Federal Chancellor threads a pipeline deal and then acts as a door opener and uncle to the pipeline conglomerate, it cannot be compared with the deliberate work of our hypothetical MPs.
The same applies to MPs who are on the payroll of companies that benefit from their legislative work or their political contacts.
However, the line between legitimate information gathering and bribery is fluid.
Journalists know that too.
Expensive trips or invitations to informative discussions in noble restaurants with sought-after informants are relatively transparent;
the creeping corruption of one's own judgment through closeness and confidentiality, the occasional penetration of internal information and the promise of exclusive interviews is more difficult to recognize and to ward off.
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Of course, the line between political movement, NGO and business lobby is fluid.
If the grand coalition has now agreed on a lobbyist register, that is to be welcomed.
Just as important would be the publication of all meetings of the MPs and ministerial officials working on a law with organized representatives of affected interest groups and the severe sanctioning of unreported meetings - for example outside the office during a confidential meal.
Unfortunately, that is precisely what the grand coalition did not decide.
The parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, Marco Buschmann, is right when he speaks of "barn door-sized" exceptions and loopholes.
Independent media that have the will, the resources and the right to understand the development of important laws remain all the more important.
Sunlight is the most important disinfectant, said Louis Brandeis, judge at the US Supreme Court.
He was right.