Corporate Europe Observatory

Exposing the power of corporate lobbying in the EU

Lobbycracy

Brussels is at the centre of EU decision-making and as such attracts thousands of lobbyists, promoting the interests of big business. Easily outnumbering and outspending public interest groups, corporate lobbyists are also given privileged access by the European institutions. The emerging lobbycracy results in flawed policies that put commercial interests above those of people and the environment and undermines the very basis of democracy.

Better control of EU revolving door needed

July 25, 2012 - 14:45
The revolving door has been in the headlines again in recent weeks with the speedy departure of a top official from the EU's medicines agency to a prominent law firm. Such moves, known as going through the revolving door, can allow the private sector to 'capture' or unduly influence the work of the public sector and it is vital that all public authorities including the EU agencies and the European Commission take this threat seriously. This example and other recent revolving door cases again raise questions as to how well the EU institutions implement the current rules, and whether the Commission will seize the initiative to tighten up on the loopholes which undermine them.

When business and politics intertwine

July 23, 2012 - 16:30
It seems as if barely a week goes past these days without a high-level summit taking place in Brussels to discuss issues relating to the euro-zone crisis. Much has been said about the roots of the crisis but no one can deny that in the background is the lack of trust that people have in their national politicians and European institutions.

EU Research funds: a €20 billion gift to industry!

July 13, 2012 - 15:46


Research funding is a hot topic these days between the European Parliament and member states, who are negotiating amendments to the draft text published in November 2011 by the European Commission. As things stand, the new round of research funding for 2014-2020 would add up to a whopping €86 billion euros, making it the largest EU budget after farm subidies and structural funds for regional development.

DG Enterprise must kick corporate lobbyists out of expert groups

July 12, 2012 - 17:55
ALTER-EU presented its new report on the dominance of corporate lobbyists in DG Enterprise's expert groups at a packed event in the Residence Palace, Brussels, organised in partnership with the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour. Dennis de Jong MEP and Lluís Prats representing DG Enterprise, both speaking on the panel, said the Commission had sent a paper to the MEPs just a few hours earlier recognising 'industry over-representation' in 17 expert groups. We say action is still needed.

Severin: time for action

July 10, 2012 - 18:57
It is now 16 months since the cash-for-influence scandal rocked the European Parliament and led to the resignation of two MEPs (Ernest Strasser and Zoran Thaler). A third MEP, Adrian Severin of Romania was sacked by the Socialist group but refused to resign from the Parliament. After the scandal, MEPs developed a new Code of Conduct aimed at preventing this from happening again, but it only came in on 1 January 2012 and cannot be applied retrospectively. So what happened next to Severin?

Industry experts dominate key areas of policy making

July 10, 2012 - 14:35
Industry experts and corporate lobbyists have effectively captured key areas of policy advice within the European Commission, according to new research carried out by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) which finds that two thirds of DG Enterprise and Industry's advisory groups are dominated by corporate representatives.

The MEP code of conduct: six months on

July 2, 2012 - 11:38
“The new code of conduct will be a strong shield against unethical behaviour.” That was the verdict of the then European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek who had just shepherded the new MEP code of conduct through both his own European People's Party (EPP) group and the rest of Parliament. The development of the code followed the cash-for-influence scandal which saw three MEPs disgraced for tabling amendments in return for payment or lucrative second jobs and greater transparency via the new code was supposed to stop MEPs from ending up in the pockets of wealthy lobbyists. The code came into force on 1 January 2012, so six months on – how well has it fared so far?

Danish Parliament takes steps towards lobbying transparency

June 29, 2012 - 09:18

In the near future, we might see a mandatory register in Denmark. But there are obstacles and pitfalls

Lobbyists register failing to improve transparency, new report shows

June 25, 2012 - 13:38

Brussels, 25 June -  The EU Transparency Register, jointly launched by the European Commission and the Parliament a year ago today (Monday), fails to give a full and accurate picture of lobbying activities in Brussels, according to a new report by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (Alter-EU) [1].

MEPs call for curbs on the revolving door

June 6, 2012 - 00:00

 

Pages

Rio+20

More on Rio+20

Climate and Energy

More on Climate and Energy, More on Trade

EU in crisis

More on The financial lobby, More on EU in crisis

The financial lobby

More on The financial lobby, More on EU in crisis

Global Europe

More on Trade

Lobbycracy

More on Lobbycracy

Revolving Doors

More on Revolving Doors

Agribusiness

More on Lobbycracy, More on Agribusiness

EFSA

More on Lobbycracy, More on Agribusiness, More on EFSA


The Brussels Business: Who runs the EU?

Corporate Europe Observatory

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.

Read more

Creative Commons License
All content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Subscribe to
Corporate Europe Forum