Articles

As the second round of negotiations on the EU-US trade agreement kick off in Brussels next week, a new report published by members of the Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B), including CEO, reveals the true human and environmental costs of the proposed deal. The report shows that the promises of job creation and growth are illusions; and that the real impetus behind a deal comes from major EU and US corporations that have joined forces to remove as many labour, health and environmental standards as possible in a devastating race to the bottom.

The EU negotiating mandate for a far-reaching free trade agreement with the US reveals the European Commission’s plans to enshrine more powers for corporations in the deal. The proposal follows a persistent campaign by industry lobby groups and law firms to empower large companies to challenge regulations both at home and abroad if they affect their profits.

Complete transparency of the decision-making process and public access is the minimum EFSA can do to restore public trust EFSA's Transparency Initiative, Position of : APSODA, Cancer Prevention and Education Society, ClientEarth, Corporate Europe Observatory, Earth Open Source, European Environmental Bureau, Firab, Friends of the Earth Europe, GMWatch, GIET, Inf'OGM, PAN Europe, TestBiotech

Eleven public health and transparency NGOs, including CEO, have written to the President of the European Parliament to express their concern about the large number of undisclosed meetings between MEPs and tobacco lobbyists. Leaked documents show 233 MEPs met Philip Morris International lobbyists. The NGOs ask Schulz to take action to ensure proper implementation of World Health Organisation's rules to protect the Parliament from tobacco industry lobby influence.

On 7 October, the second round of negotiations for a far-reaching transatlantic trade deal will begin in Brussels. Amidst calls for greater openness and public participation, the European Commission has gone into propaganda mode, promoting myths about the transparency and accountability of the talks. See through its feel-good rhetoric with Corporate Europe Observatory’s myth-busting guide to secrecy, corporate influence and lack of accountability in the transatlantic trade negotiations.

Food crops used to fuel cars are pushing up food prices and displacing production to elsewhere, with serious social and environmental consequences; yet fierce lobbying by the agrofuels industry is diluting and undermining any action taken, as the European Parliament's disappointing recent vote on the topic demonstrated.

Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), Corporate Europe Observatory, together with 340 other organizations representing hundreds of millions of people from nearly every country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks, such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF) and the European Attac network.

5 years after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and the beginning of the worst economic crisis in decades, the EU has not delivered on promises of strong regulation of the financial sector. A swift overhaul is needed.

In response to an access to documents request from CEO, the European Commission has released a list of 130 ‘meetings with stakeholders’ on the EU-US free trade talks. It shows that more than 93% of the Commission’s meetings with stakeholders during the preparations of the negotiations were with big business.