EU politicians will cosy up with Big Toxics at a secretive event on 20 February to discuss a new 'European Industrial Deal' — a blatant showcase of corporate capture and an attempt to shift the political agenda in a more profit-minded direction.

Today, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have been attending a closed-door meeting with 70 or more corporate leaders of Big Polluters to launch a declaration for a ‘European Industrial Deal’ at BASF’s chemicals plant in Antwerp, the so-called Antwerp Declaration.

As Prime Minister De Croo and President von der Leyen hobnob with the leaders of big business at BASF Antwerp, 70+ NGOs have demanded an end to privileged access for polluting industries and ambitious action on the toxic pollution, biodiversity, and climate crises.

European citizens are exposed to “alarmingly high levels of chemical substances”, eroding human health and contributing to the collapse of biodiversity. However, instead of urgently tackling the need to remove hazardous substances from the market, tomorrow, decision-makers will cosy up to Big Toxics to discuss a new "European Industrial Deal". In doing so, EU leaders have fallen for industry’s ‘cry wolf’ tactic.

As politicians get ready to cosy up with Big Toxics at a private event in a chemicals factory to discuss a new 'European Industrial Deal', Corporate Europe Observatory looks at how the Green Deal's proposals to reduce and replace toxic substances that harm health and ecosystems, have been delayed and sidelined.

Trade unions and civil society back MEPs' call to ban Amazon lobbyists from European Parliament. This is big news and Bram Vranken explains how we got here.

Trade unions and civil society organisations are throwing their weight behind Members of European Parliament’s (MEPs) demand to strip Amazon lobbyists of their parliamentary access. On 5 February, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Employment Committee sent an official letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, urging the withdrawal of lobbying badges from the tech giant’s representatives, effectively barring them from the Parliament's corridors.

The EP voted in favour of a draft law that would scrap all safety assessments for most new GMOs. This would mean a degradation of environmental and health standards in the EU, as a handout to corporations like Bayer and Syngenta.

On Wednesday (7 February) MEPs will vote in the Strasbourg plenary on a proposal that would scrap any safety checks for GMOs (NGTs), as well as labelling and traceability requirements. Many of these MEPs, I suspect, will scratch their heads a few times about the implications of this deregulation proposal.

The Commission may shortly publish its thinking on 'essential use', an important component of the Green Deal's strategy on chemicals. This will help determine whether industry can carry on contaminating consumer products with hazardous substances or whether such chemicals should only be used when absolutely essential and when no safe alternatives exist.