Lobbying the EU

How vulnerable are the EU institutions to undue corporate influence, and what gaps exist in EU lobbying and ethics rules?

OLAF's leaked Dalligate report underlines need to end tobacco lobbyist's role as EU ethics adviser

08.05.2013

The report shows that Petite had a central role in the events that led to Dalli's forced resignation (under yet to be clarified circumstances, following bribery accusations) in mid-October 2012. Petite assisted tobacco company Swedish Match in submitting the complaint that triggered the OLAF investigation into the Dalli case, using his access to the Commission's Secretary-General Catherine Day, a former colleague at the European Commission.

ALTER-EU in the battle for data privacy

06.05.2013

The battle for data privacy sets digital rights activists against what Commission Vice-President Reding describes as some of the most aggressive industry lobbying she has ever witnessed. Areas of ALTER-EU's work that are important in the fight for data privacy are the demand for a mandatory lobbying register to end lobbying secrecyand shutting the revolving door for employees between EU institutions and private lobbying firms.

Leaked OLAF report on Dalli case flawed and inconclusive

29.04.2013

On Sunday 28 April 2013, OLAF’s investigation report on the Dalli case was published on the website of the newspaper Malta Today. After a first reading of the report (of which two pages appear to be missing), read Corporate Europe Observatory's first observations.

Standing up to big business lobbies: ALTER-EU's annual assembly and public debate

16.04.2013

CEO has reported a lot about Dalligate, the tobacco cash-for-influence lobby scandal that led to the downfall, in mysterious and contested circumstances, of former health Commissioner John Dalli. One of the reasons Dalligate is such a juicy affair is that it starkly illustrates the problems with voluntary lobby transparency and with inadequate management of the conflicts of interest that arise from the revolving-door – public officials becoming big business lobbyists, and vice versa.

We Need to Talk About Expert Groups...

27.03.2013

It seems like the Commission does not want the public to know about the recent progress it has made in stopping big business dominating its 'expert groups'. It has produced an update but won't make it public. However, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), on behalf of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), has obtained a copy of the Commission's latest efforts. In short, the Commission has fallen well short of the promises of reform it made to Parliament.

Pressure grows for Dalligate truth: CEO complaints on Swedish Match and OLAF

27.03.2013

The Dalligate scandal entered a new stage last week when Swedish Match admitted that they knew a key lobby meeting with Mr. Dalli, where the alleged 60 million euro bribe was offered, had not in fact taken place, and claimed that it was EU anti-fraud agency OLAF that had instructed them to stick to the erroneous story.

Ombudsman launches investigation into European Commission’s Dalligate secrecy

06.03.2013

The EU Ombudsman has launched an investigation into the European Commission's secrecy around 'Dalligate', the tobacco lobbying scandal that led to the forced resignation of health Commissioner John Dalli.

Transformation needed for Transparency: Looking towards the lobby register review

26.02.2013

In September last year, CEO submitted four complaints to the Transparency Register's secretariat about entries that broke the rules. We're now facing the two year review of the lobby register, and signs of real political level debate and transformation are not promising. What can the results of our complaints, last year's public consultation on the register and its annual report, tell us about the voluntary lobby register's progress so far? And what is needed to ensure a transformation towards true transparency?

The Brussels Business – Who Runs the European Union?

16.03.2012

The Brus$els Business - Who Runs the European Union? - which puts the spotlight on the power of the lobbying industry in Brussels - is to have its Belgian Premiere at the Millenium Documentary Film Festival in Brussels on Thursday 19 April 2012. Corporate Europe Observatory was approached by the filmmakers at the start of their project and our early work features prominently in the film, which tells the story of how industry lobby groups heavily influenced the EU's development from the 1980s onwards.

Budget negotiations: cut industry subsidies, not public interest research!

21.02.2013

In this open letter to Members of the European Parliament and Member States of the EU, 20 organisations such as the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), the farmers' union La Via Campesina or the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility ask that the €10 billion budget cut foreseen to the EU' 2014-2020 Research budget (called Horizon 2020) only affect industry subsidies that will mainly go to large multinational companies, not public interest research which is vital for Europe's future.

Crowdsourced lobby exposé shows Internet giants have footprints on our data privacy laws

18.02.2013

One of the biggest lobby offensives in recent years has been raining down on Brussels, as American internet giants have taken fright at the prospect of new data privacy laws proposed for the EU. But it turns out that an alarmed Amazon or enraged eBay are aggressive animals, with friends in high places. The result of this massive lobby effort has been revealed by a new crowdsourced lobby transparency project, LobbyPlag, which shows how MEPs have copy-pasted amendments written by IT multinationals directly into the EU’s new data protection law.

CEO submits Ombudsman complaint about EU Commission's Dalligate secrecy

31.01.2013

In the complaint, CEO accuses the Commission of secrecy, selective release of documents and failure to fulfill its obligations under EU transparency legislation (Regulation 1049/2001).