Articles

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.

On 27 March, the Budget committee voted on an excellent report by MEP Monica Luisa Macovei (PPE, Romania), proposing to postpone the approval of the 2010 budget of the European Food Safety Authority. Macovei stated that "conflicts of interest could .. have a negative impact on the impartiality of the decision-making process and also on the citizens' trust in the institutions". The vote in Plenary is scheduled on 10 May 2012.

Ahead of the EU in Crisis conference on 5-6 May in Brussels, Corporate Europe Observatory has invited several authors and commentators to contribute essays on some of the themes of the conference, to inspire debate and comment. In the coming weeks, these essays will be published below. The essays represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of CEO but we hope that you will find them interesting and thought-provoking. Don't forget to the register for the conference if you have not already done so!

A CEO summary of the article Boom and (deep) crisis in the Spanish economy: the role of the EU in its evolution by Miren Etxezarreta, Francisco Navarro, Ramón Ribera and Victòria Soldevila, members of the Seminario de Economía Crítica TAIFA. The original article contains a number of informative tables and graphs.

The Brus$els Business - Who Runs the European Union? - which puts the spotlight on the power of the lobbying industry in Brussels - is to have its Belgian Premiere at the Millenium Documentary Film Festival in Brussels on Thursday 19 April 2012. Corporate Europe Observatory was approached by the filmmakers at the start of their project and our early work features prominently in the film, which tells the story of how industry lobby groups heavily influenced the EU's development from the 1980s onwards.

Three chapters from Europe Inc: “Writing the Script: The European Roundtable of Industrialists”, “Polishing the EMU: The Association for the Monetary Union of Europe” and “Doing Business in Amsterdam: The ERT, UNICE and the Treaty of Amsterdam”.

Cities worldwide are experiencing the failures of water privatisation. Unequal access, broken promises, environmental hazards and scandalous profit margins are prompting municipalities to take back control of this essential service. This new book from Corporate Europe Observatory, Transnational Institute and the Municipal Services Project examines this growing trend for water ‘remunicipalisation’. Case studies analyse the transition from private to public water provision in Paris, Dar es Salaam, Buenos Aires and Hamilton, and look at a national-level experiment in Malaysia.

The Treaty signed by 25 EU member states on 2nd of March 2012 includes several policy demands made by BusinessEurope. It is the big business lobby's dream come true, but it will put enormous pressure on ordinary people's welfare and living standards.

The nuclear industry is gearing up to the first anniversary of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster by arguing that nuclear power remains central to the EU’s energy needs. Over the last year the industry has repeated key public relations messages that nuclear energy is not only safe, but central to any low carbon, secure energy future. And its vociferous PR campaign and highly effective lobby network, has been welcomed by parts of the European Commission.