Dutch companies and organisations spend at least €80m a year on lobby operations in Brussels, according to research by news agency ANP.

However, the real figure is likely to be higher because many companies do not make public how much they spend on lobbying European Union institutions. 

The European Commission runs a voluntary transparency register where companies can make their involvement public.

At the moment, some 5,000 organisations are included in the register, with total spending of over €1bn.