An on-going complaint

19 March 2009, Brussels.  As we have seen, EU agrofuel policy has spurred a number of initiatives supposedly aimed at bringing ‘sustainable’ agrofuels to the market over the past few years. These efforts have been used to try and justify the 10% agrofuel target.

Caroline Lucas MEP (Greens, UK) challenged the Trade Commissioner designate Karel de Gucht on the issue of corporate influence over EU trade policy when he appeared before the European Parliament hearing yesterday (12 January 2010).

Public relations expertise developed by a food-and-drink-industry-funded think tank seems to be being promoted by the European Union’s food safety agency, following the appointment of a food industry insider. The PR strategy on dealing with risks has even been included in official guidelines. Recent cases of former Commissioners going through the revolving doors into lobbying jobs have raised questions about conflicts of interest.

Business attempts to undermine a strong and just global agreement  on climate change are being put under the spotlight in the countdown to United Nations negotiations in Copenhagen with a special award, jointly organised by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth International, Focus on the Global South, Attac and Spinwatch.

Big banks and financial companies are doing their best to stop the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT) in the European Union. A proposal for an FTT is on the table, but still has to be approved by the Council. The industry has put all its lobbying machinery to work, implementing a scaremongering strategy, to convince member states to reject the tax. There is a real risk that their lobbying will pay off, either by defeating the entire idea of taxing transactions, or by watering down an already timid proposal.