Corporate Europe Observatory

Ex-Commissioner John Dalli knowingly met with lobbyists who were not registered in the European Commission and European Parliament’s Transparency Register. Lobbyists who choose to hide from the public who they're lobbying for, on what subject, or how much money they’re spending to influence public policy. Lobbyists who work in the shadows. Shocking? Yes, but it is a very common practice in the Commission to meet with unregistered lobbyists, a sure-fire indicator that despite what it says, the Commission is not really concerned about lobby transparency.

Corporate Europe Observatory, Via Campesina, the Italian GMO Task Force and FIRAB invite you to a citizens' conference on 12 November in Parma, Italy, for EFSA’s 10th anniversary, in parallel to EFSA's official celebrations. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has come under criticism over the influence of industry and the effect this has on the Authority's independence. There have even been suggestions of regulatory capture.

Over the last week an increasingly unclear and fraught picture of a major European lobbying scandal has been unfolding. “Dalligate” or “snusgate” has been heralded as “the biggest tobacco industry interference in public health policy at the European level”, and led to the unprecedented resignation – or maybe dismissal - of Maltese Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli. Given the Commission's normally relaxed attitude to industry lobbying, this was surprising. In fact, this is the first time a Commissioner has been removed over a lobby scandal. Unfortunately there's no reason to believe this is the start of a new, stricter approach. The Commission's messy handling of the case, characterised by improvisation rather than clear and transparent procedures, has raised more questions than it answers. The Commission must urgently end its secrecy around the Dalli case and publish all the facts from the OLAF investigation. Post-Dalligate, the Commission must finally accept the urgent need for far stricter transparency and ethics rules around its relations with lobbyists.

The European Commission is deliberately promoting privatization of water services as one of the conditions being imposed as part of bailouts, it has acknowledged in a letter to civil society groups.[1] EU Commissioner Olli Rehn's directorate was responding to questions posed in an open letter concerning the European Commission’s role in imposing privatisation through the Troika in Greece, Portugal and other countries.[2] The civil society groups have today written to Commissioner Rehn to demand that he “refrains from any further pressure to impose water privatisation conditionalities”

The resignation of the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli highlights the need for stronger measures to regulate EU lobbying to rule out the risk of privileged access and political corruption in EU decision-making. CEO outlines the need for the Commission to take action in five areas to tackle privileged access and prevent corruption.