Articles

--- by guest blogger Christine Pohl, Friends of the Earth Europe

One year after the launch of the EU Commission's lobby register, with less than 23% of Brussels-based lobby organisations registered, ALTER-EU publishes a detailed report highlighting the register's failures and putting forward concrete proposals for improvement.

British American Tobacco (BAT) spent more than €700,000 lobbying the EU last year, up to four times as much as the company declared on the EU’s register of interest representatives, new research by Corporate Europe Observatory has revealed. This report argues that BAT's hidden lobbying activities, which are clearly not in the public interest, should be exposed to public scrutiny.

On May 28, the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) held its general assembly to vote on criteria for responsible soy. These had been heavily criticised by many environemental organisations and peasant movements. Within the RTRS, there was deep disagreement about whether and what biodiversity-criterion to adopt, a key element.

An Open Letter to Commissioner Kuneva regarding concerns about potential conflicts of interest of her Special Adviser Pat Cox Dear Commissioner Kuneva, We are writing to you to express our concern about the potential conflicts of interest of Mr Pat Cox, who acts as your Special Adviser on “Communication and Strategy for Consumers on citizens”.

With just days to go before the European Parliamentary elections, concerns about the role of industry lobbyists in EU decision-making - and the lack of transparency and ethics - have become an issue in election debates in several countries. These are just some highlights.

This week, the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) meets to set new standards for "responsible soy". This new certification scheme could be accepted by the EU as adequate to guarantee that certified soy is suitable for use as an agrofuel in Europe.