Lobby transparency

Transparency watchdogs LobbyControl, Transparency International, The Good Lobby, and Corporate Europe Observatory sent an open letter to President von der Leyen demanding she properly implement and enforce transparency rules needed to improve the governance of European policy-making.

Following a report by DeSmog, Corporate Europe Observatory has today demanded an investigation into unregistered influencing activity by European Livestock Voice (ELV).

50 organisations have signed an open letter to the coordinators of the European Parliament Environment Committee, calling on them to reject the nomination of Dutch fossil fuel ally Wopke Hoekstra as the new Climate Commissioner.

The association of European employers, BusinessEurope, is the most active and probably the most powerful lobby group in the EU institutions. Determined to see the EU adopt policies that defend profits over people and planet, they have won privileged access to decision-makers like no other and even shape the direction of the EU as a whole. It is high time to roll back their power and privileged access.

One of the most important steps in EU decision-making takes place behind closed doors. We call on the EU to end this secrecy. We have the right to be informed about the negotiations between the Commission, the Parliament and the member states.

Brand new analysis by EU lobby data website LobbyFacts has revealed that the companies with the highest-declared lobby budgets have increased their spending by a third since 2015.

The biggest companies in the EU lobby transparency register have increased their annual EU lobby budget by one third in recent years. Find out more as Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl re-launch their EU lobby data site LobbyFacts.eu

Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl have written to the EU lobby transparency register to complain about hundreds of instances of implausible data, as exposed by LobbyFacts.eu

Corporate Europe Observatory uncovers the autocratic kingdom’s Brussels-based spin doctors, from a think tank headed by former European prime ministers, to lobby consultancies specialising in 'privatised diplomacy’, and the use of discredited social media disinformation firms.

Big Tech firms are spending more and more lobbying in Europe – a clear sign of the industry’s growing power. Its increased lobby spending also reflects the importance of key upcoming policy battles. Yet, lack of transparency remains a problem.

Given the upcoming revision of the Tobacco Products Directive, it is high time that the EU meets its obligations to ensure that lobbying by the tobacco industry to influence public officials faces tighter scrutiny and pro-active transparency.

Germany will shortly take over the EU Council Presidency at a critical time. A new report looks at the German Government’s record in its own EU decision-making and exposes how time and again it is too close to corporate interests.