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Earlier this month, representatives from the automotive, financial services and digital economy industries were joined by MEPs and EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso at a “networking cocktail” to relaunch three “MEP-industry forums” in the new Parliament. These corporate-funded forums seldom declare who they are funded by and are frequently run by big Brussels-based lobby groups and consultancies. When interviewed by CEO TV, industry members deny that these forums are used for lobbying. Some MEPs, however, acknowledge that they are lobbying vehicles serving industry interests.

Industry lobbying has been a major factor in the US and Europe, with the finance sector lobbying to block tighter regulation of the financial markets. This guided tour of the Brussels EU Quarter highlights the number of financial lobbyists at work there.

The European Commission has rejected Corporate Europe Observatory’s request to see the “Declaration of activities of Pat Cox in view of applying to the function of Special Adviser to the Commission”, stating in its letter (21st September) that it was prevented from doing so because of “personal data protection”.

Flemish daily De Tijd, quoting anonymous sources in the Belgian Central Anti-Corruption Agency and the Belgian Federal Court, writes today that an unnamed French lobbying firm active in Brussels has sold confidential information on upcoming tenders for EU contracts to a consortium of Belgian consultancies.

Before the summer break Danish MEP Margrete Auken asked the Commission who the patients’ organisations that it consults with represented. The question was sparked by revelations from the Danish daily Information that some of the biggest pan-European patient organisations are almost entirely dependent on funding from pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Merck.