Civil society organisations demand fossil free politics.

The European Banking Authority must reverse its decision to allow its Director Adam Farkas to take up a position with a powerful finance lobbygroup, AFME. A statement from 58 civil society organisations.

Since 2010, just five oil and gas corporations and their fossil fuel lobby groups have spent at least a quarter of a billion euros buying influence at the heart of European decision-making.

189 organisations have joined CEO, Food and Water Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace EU in signing an open letter to decision makers demanding the fossil fuel industry is cut out of politics.

Opening up Council decision-making is essential to counter corporate influence on EU decision-making. But the reform process is currently in stalemate.

European civil society organizations denounce lack of transparency and the inclusion of “regulatory cooperation” in the ongoing EU-US trade talks in a letter to the Commission.

The Director of the European Banking Authority is set to become the new Chief Executive of one of the most powerful finance lobby groups in Europe. The move has been approved by the Authority with a decision that flies in the face of common sense and triggers all sorts of alarm bells over conflicts of interest .

Some of the candidates put forward to become the new European Commissioners are of concern due to potential conflicts of interest – from share ownership in fossil fuels and finance to overly close relationships with business – and corruption probes, while MEPs complain of a lack of a robust transparency process to properly scrutinise the interests of the Commissioners-designate.

This week EU member states will decide whether to permit the French Government’s decision to ban the food additive E171, pitting well-funded industry lobbyists against public health campaigners who want the ban extended across the EU.

Recent evidence supports widely held suspicions that much larger sums of money are spent by corporations on lobbying than what they declare in their entries to the EU Joint Transparency Register. A report by law firm Sidley Austin, published by Bayer, revealed details of a lobbying contract between lobby firm FleishmanHillard and Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, worth €14.5 million. This is multiple times the lobby spending declared by both companies in the register.