Corporate Europe Observatory

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.

Imagine all of the EU’s environmental legislation being wiped out in one swoop. Or an effective block on anything that might improve working conditions. Or imagine that any member state rules that were considered by the Commission to be in breach of EU rules on the Single Market , eg. on GMOs or on food additives, could be annulled by the Commission without any further discussion.

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.

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.

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.