In memoriam Roel van den Bosch

Corporate Europe Observatory is in mourning over the unexpected death of Roel van den Bosch, our financial administrator, appreciated colleague and friend.

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UnFairbnb

AirBnB and its allies are lobbying the EU to fight city-level measures meant to protect affordable housing. Our new report “UnFairbnb” looks at the way the EU lobbying of the companies behin short-term rental platforms risk to undermine cities’ ability to regulate the AirBnB model.

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CEO Website Survey

We are about to overhaul the CEO website and would love to hear your feedback on the current site. You can really help us to improve the look and feel of our site – and it only takes a few short minutes to fill out the survey. Thanks a lot!


Quiet on the set! The EU is negotiating trade deals...

After a barrage of criticism, the European Commission now brands its trade negotiations as transparent and inclusive. But crucial information about EU trade deals is still kept from citizens, and even member state governments complain about being left in the dark. At the same time, corporations continue to call the shots on EU trade talks.

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Financial regulators and the private sector: permanent revolving door at DG FISMA

One third of the people who occupied top positions in the EU Commission’s department for banking and financial regulation during the period 2008-2017 either came from the financial industry or went there after leaving the Commission.

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Packaging lobby’s support for anti-litter groups deflects tougher solutions

As political support for radical solutions to single-use plastic pollution grows, we look at the links between the packaging industry and anti-litter NGOs in Brussels and across the EU.

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EU steps back from Trump & Polluters at UN climate talks

Should fossil fuel representatives be allowed into the UN climate talks, or do we need a conflict of interest policy to protect the process? Negotiators spent much of the last two weeks fighting over that very question as part of the latest round of talks in Bonn, Germany. While governments representing nearly 70 per cent of the world have demanded a robust conflicts of interest policy, the US tried its best to kill the proposal dead.

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Trump & Fossil Fuels – People & Planet at UN climate talks

Tackling conflicts of interest at the UN climate talks is up for negotiation: should fossil fuel interests be allowed to participate at these conferences, or even in climate policy-making in general?

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New visions for a new food and trade system

On the occasion of the International Day of Farmers’ Struggle, we joined forces with allies to publish five visions for a sustainable, healthy and fair food and trade policy. Let’s restart this important debate!

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Real sanctions vital to stop lobby register abuses

 

Find out how the secretariat managing the EU lobby register has been dealing with CEO complaints about dodgy data submissions, like that by agribusiness giant Monsanto.

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Selmayrgate: Or why the Secretary-General job matters

The appointment of Martin Selmayr as new Secretary-General of the European Commission took almost everybody by surprise. This new role makes the member of Germany’s conservative party the head of some 33,000 commission staff and thereby a crucial actor in processes that could support but also or hinder public interest policy-making.

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The beginning of a Parliamentary rebellion?


177 Members of the European Parliament took a stand in Strasbourg earlier this spring: they voted not to povide EU money and political support to more than a hundred new pipelines and other gas infrastructure projects, despite hefty lobbying of the gas industry.

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More secrecy rights for business in the UK? No thanks!


The UK government is about to bring new EU rules on industrial espionage into law. But civil society is concerned that these new rules risk creating a chilling effect on future corporate whistle-blowers and those who report their stories.

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Take a virtual tour of the EU lobby world

Who influences decision-making in the European Union? And how? Welcome to the complex and often shady realm of corporate lobbying, which you can now tour from the comfort of your sofa. Or while queuing for frites. Or even on the go in Brussels, following the virtual route on foot!
 


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