Barnier's concerns about speculation

EFSA accused of legal bullying by campaign group

Brussels, 27 September – Campaigners today accused the European Food Safety Authority of using legal threats to try and intimidate its critics, after receiving a legal threat from the EU agency [1].

Research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) received a letter from EFSA’s Head of the Legal and Regulatory Affairs Unit following publication of an article highlighting hidden conflicts of interest among members of EFSA’s expert panel responsible for food additives.

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.

Former internal market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy waited just one week after the requirement that he informed the Commission of his professional activities expired, before he signed a contract to join the board of a bank.

During the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial in Geneva (30 November to 2 December 2009), protesters put the spotlight on some of the big businesses in town. With little going on inside the ministerial, they organised daily guided tours to banks, agricultural and energy traders to show that there's more to Geneva than international organisations, humanitarianism and luxury watches – and more to trade negotiations than conflicts between the US and India. Because it is companies that benefit and quite often also co-write global trade rules.

ALTER-EU – a coalition of 160 organisations concerned with transparency within Europe – is calling on the European Commission to dissolve some of its Expert Groups because of the dominance of industry lobbyists.