From Green Deal supporter to Industrial Deal champion

At the beginning of her first mandate, von der Leyen lauded the Green Deal as a tool to reconcile the economy with our planet, a strategy that "gives more back than it takes away." Despite her warm words, her first term as EU Commission president saw strong political, financial, and regulatory support for corporate power.

Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner, says:

“By reappointing Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission President, the European Parliament has given corporate power a green light to keep on pushing its damaging pro-business and anti-regulation agenda. 

This is an agenda that is already well heard in VDL's Commission and which does not bode well for ambitious action to tackle the cost of living crisis, nor the use of fossil fuels, harmful chemicals, and pesticides.

Now more than ever we need an EU that redistributes wealth, protects people and the planet, and prevents corporations from skewing decision-making towards their interests.”

False solutions to the climate crisis:

Over the past five years, oil and gas lobbyists have enjoyed unprecedented access to European decision-making, with the EU putting fossil fuel industry interests above the public interest to urgently phase out fossil fuel use. For example, after the invasion of Ukraine, the EU set up an 'Energy Platform Industry Advisory Group’ exclusively made up of Europe's major gas companies, with a mandate to effectively co-manage the Commission's plans to shift from Russian gas.

Moreover, the von der Leyen Commission has given an enormous boost to fossil fuel industry escape hatches like hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS). While presented as a green miracle to cure fossil fuel addiction, hydrogen risks extending fossil fuel use and deepening neo-colonial extractivist practices. CCS is a failed, expensive and risky technology that diverts huge public funds and locks us into decades more of fossil fuels. It is no surprise that the fossil fuel industry promoted them.

Embracing the corporate agenda:

From the Farm to Fork strategy to the REACH revision and the Export Ban, during the past mandate, von der Leyen and her right-wing allies have also abandoned or postponed promised and very much-needed new legislation to tackle the use of harmful substances. 

In February 2024, von der Leyen was among the top guests at a business-only event held at the BASF's chemicals plant in Antwerp, where CEFIC and other big polluters launched the Antwerp Declaration, which demands speedy deregulation, increased access to public funding, and more business-friendly decision-making.

Now the new Commission’s political guidelines promise to “simplify” REACH and provide "clarity" on PFAS forever chemicals. But if this is not done in the context of detoxification, and a focus on health and environment drivers, these could make the biodiversity and pollution crises even worse. 

ENDS

For media inquiries, please contact

Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory Researcher and Campaigner

vicky@corporateeurope.org; +44 7960 988096

Marcella Via, Corporate Europe Observatory Press Officer

media@corporateeurope.org +39 3484201435

Notes to editor

• This week, 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.
• Recently, more than 120 NGOs sent an open letter to President von der Leyen and EU leaders demanding a focus on people and the environment, rather than corporate interests, during the next EU mandate.