Articles

Industry lobbyists are dominating parts of the European law-making process, campaigners warned today (March 25) on the back of a new report analysing the membership of a number of Commission Expert Groups. Researchers also warn that the European Commission is impeding public accountability, by failing to reveal details of who sits on the Groups.

The EU’s FTA talks: is water included? CEO/TNI Water Justice Project --- draft paper, please do not circulate or quote ---

Regulating against Conflicts of Interests - ALTER-EU's vision

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) biosafety negotiations have been the target ofbiotech industry lobbyists and pro-biotech governments from the outset. But some have taken a more subtle approach to their lobbying, hiding their agenda beneath a veneer of public interest. Scrape beneath the surface however and their links to the biotech industry become clear. One such organisation is the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI) which appeared on the scene after the first biosafety negotiations under the CBD. Apparently independent from industry,this group claims to

This report, compiled by ASEED Europe, Base Investigataciones Sociales,Corporate Europe Observatory, Grupo de Reflexión Rural and the Rain Forest Action Network, looks at the impacts of soy production in Latin America ahead of the third Round Table on Responsible Soy conference, and warns that rather than promoting more sustainable production, the Round Table is legitimising the existing environmentally and socially destructive practices within the soy industry.

Bonn, 19 May -- The biosafety negotiations in Bonn ended without a legally binding agreement on who could be held liable for compensation for damage caused by GM crops. Negotiators reached an "accord" which will be negotiated further over the next two years. This time it was Japan blocking progress, with the silent approval of New Zealand, Peru,and probably others. This does not look good for Japan who is host for the next CBD.

On 15 January 2008, six organisations and networks sent a letter of protest to Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik about the ‘Strategic Research Agenda’ and ‘Strategy Deployment Document’ composed by the European Biofuels Technology Platform.This platform, initiated by the European Commission itself, is heavily dominated by industry and has been given the opportunity to advise the EU about how public research money should be spent regarding agrofuel research. But not only that.