Blogs

Chroniques de Lobbycratie - Avril 2013

The Dalligate scandal entered a new stage last week when Swedish Match admitted that they knew a key lobby meeting with Mr. Dalli, where the alleged 60 million euro bribe was offered, had not in fact taken place, and claimed that it was EU anti-fraud agency OLAF that had instructed them to stick to the erroneous story. Corporate Europe Observatory has today taken several new steps to increase the pressure on Barroso and OLAF to clear the smoke around Dalligate, including complaints against Swedish Match and OLAF, and freedom of information requests about Swedish Match lobbyists who went through the revolving door from the EU institutions.

The concessions directive, which has the stated object of opening markets and eliminating “discrepancies among national regimes”, would end the exemption that has so far existed for drinking water supply and for the first time bring it under the rules of the EU’s single market. Previous attempts to bring water under single market rules failed due to resistance from civil society and MEPs opposed to water becoming a commodity, but this time the European Parliament has been less vigilant.

Not long after November's demonstration, EFSA took the initiative to organise a meeting in Brussels with the signatory organisations and the European Commission, in order to discuss the demands. This presented an interesting development in our dialogue with the EU institutions, which to date had seen then generally dismissing the very idea that there could be a problem in the EU food safety system. The meeting took place on 30 January.