Articles

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has today submitted a formal complaint to the EU Ombudsman about the European Commission's failure to properly implement UN rules for contacts with tobacco lobbyists. The EU is a signatory to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which obliges governments to limit interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of those interactions that occur.

There would be a public outcry if advisors to our national politicians or civil servants were recently convicted for illegal activity on the very topic they were advising on. Yet a new report by MEP Martin Ehrenhauser* shows how corporations that have been found guilty of or are under investigation for serious ethical, financial or environmental misconduct are actively advising the Commission.

The week before the elections for the European Parliament, a multitude of citizens and social movements will unite in resistance against the neoliberal policies of austerity and privatisation pushed by the Troika and all complicit governments. The European Week of Action calls for real democracy from below, refusing to accept the attempts by corporate Europe and politicians to rehabilitate neoliberalism on the backs of employees as well as unemployed, retirees, migrants and the youth.

At the end of March, the European Commission launched a public consultation over its plan to enshrine far-reaching rights for foreign investors in the EU-US trade deal currently being negotiated. In the face of fierce opposition to these investor super-rights, the Commission is trying to convince the public that these do not endanger democracy and public policy. See through the sweet-talk with Corporate Europe Observatory’s guide to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

This 8-minute film presents some of the dangers of the investor rights within the proposed EU-US trade deal.

At the end of May the whole of Europe will be going to the ballot box for the 2014 European Parliament elections. But when the votes are counted and members-to-be (MEPs) take their place, who are they going to represent – people or profit?

A director of the biggest EU food industry lobby group, FoodDrinkEurope, has found her way into the shortlist of candidates to the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A current member of EFSA's Board belonged to the public sector when appointed but is now director of the national food industry association in Denmark, re-applying to EFSA's Board. Two other current members of the Board, also re-applying for the position, have strong ties to the agro-food industry. Member States have the final word on these appointments and must act to protect the agency's independence.

Despite a manifest presence of “the financial lobby” in the EU decision-making, until now there has been no comprehensive survey of its size and power in the EU. A new report by CEO, ÖGB Europabüro and AK EUROPA is intended to fill that void. The findings are stunning. In total the financial industry spends more than €120 million per year on lobbying in Brussels and employs more than 1700 lobbyists.

Today, a European alliance of over 50 civil society organisations will launch the Alternative Trade Mandate pledge campaign, calling on European Parliament election candidates to make EU trade and investment policy serve people and the planet, not just the profit of a few large corporations.