Dear friend, supporter, and accomplice in tackling corporate power,

we've been back from our summer holidays for a while now and already have quite a few things to share with you! In Brussels, the "back-to-school" month of September is always one of the busiest times of the year, and it's no different this year. The last few weeks have seen us weigh in on the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis, we featured an inside look at the way that Czech oligarch prime minister Babiš is threatening the country's democracy and brought you an overview of the pros and cons of the EU Commission proposal for greater transparency of food safety data. We also appeared on your screens as experts on plastic industry lobbying in the brilliant French investigative programme Cash Investigation (and on this occassion published a French translation of our plastic lobby investigations from earlier this year), and spoke at the big launch event for a new report on fighting corporate capture.

It's all listed below so you can take a look, have a read, and spread the word.

If you would like to hear from us more frequently, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook, where on an almost daily basis we share reading recommendations, CEO updates, our take on the news, and the occasional tongue-in-cheek commentary.

We're excited to have you as a subscriber and very much appreciate your continuing support of our work. If you'd like to contribute financially with a recurring gift or a one-time donation you can do so here and boost our independence and resources for research, campaigning and outreach. Let's roll back corporate power in Europe together!

 

 

All our best wishes from Brussels,

the CEO team

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How the financial lobby won the battle in Brussels

Despite their responsibility for the 2008 crash, the financial sector has successfully avoided major reform in the decade since. Their army of lobbyists has won almost all the major battles, leaving new legislation full of loopholes and conditions similar to those that created the crash in the first place.

Corporate Europe Observatory shows how the past ten years of financial lobbying have kept us vulnerable to future crises and costly bailouts.

Finance lobby still shapes EU agenda despite historic meltdown

Our analyses from 10 years of monitoring the finance lobby - an overview

Ten years ago, the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers signalled the beginning of a deep, serious financial breakdown. Among the causes: decision-makers inclined to take the advice of financial lobbyists as gospel and include it in their own political agenda – in the US as well as in the European Union. The laissez-faire nature of European financial regulation has had dire consequences.

Will business secrecy keep defeating the right to know on food safety?

As discussions about a European Commission proposal on the transparency of EU food safety data are underway in both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, organisers of the #StopGlyphosate European Citizens' Initiative warn that to live up to its promising objectives, the proposal must be amended.

 

The Czech Trump: how prime minister Babiš undermines democracy

The political climate in the Czech Republic has grown increasingly repressive following the election of oligarch Andrej Babiš as prime minister in October 2017. With the Czech civil society space squeezed tighter and tighter by Babiš's government, we want to help draw attention to the duress and threats under which many progressive organisations and media outlets now have to work.

Czech journalist and CEO board member Jakub Patočka explains what is at stake in the country as targeted defamation campaigns and funding withdrawals are hindering the work of critical NGOs and newspapers.

Comment les lobbies des emballages se cachent derrière des associations anti-déchets...

...pour éviter des solutions plus radicales

La traduction en français de notre enquête, légèrement abrégée, vous est proposée par l'Observatoire des Multinationales à l’occasion de la diffusion d’un épisode du magazine télévisé Cash investigation consacré aux manipulations des industriels du plastique. ↧

 

Cash investigation - Plastique : la grande intox (Intégrale)

L'épisode du magazine télévisé Cash investigation consacré aux manipulations des industriels du plastique avec Corporate Europe Observatory est maintenant disponible sur la chaîne officielle Cash Investigation sur Youtube.

Corporate capture in Europe

When big business dominates policy-making & threatens our rights

Excessive corporate influence over policy-making remains a serious threat to the public interest across Europe and at the EU level, a new report by our partner organisation ALTER-EU warns. The publication features many case studies, including one on corporate capture of EU banking regulation which was researched and written by Corporate Europe Observatory.

 

We are a small team that works completely independently of funding from the EU, governments, political parties and corporations.

Your donation, big or small, recurring or once-off, helps us fight the hold of Big Business over the EU.