A coalition of more than 160 civil society groups, unions, mayors and progressive parties running major European cities has come out to oppose a controversial proposed EU directive that has been pushed by business lobbies and would create major new obstacles for progressive municipal policies and initiatives.

More than 100 civil society organisations and institutions including Corporate Europe Observatory, as well as 25 individual experts, have banded together as Citizens for Science in Pesticide Regulation , a new European coalition launched today, which demands a comprehensive reform of the EU pesticide risk assessment system.

Progressive municipalist city governments from Barcelona, to Naples, to Grenoble have introduced radical democratic programmes to tranmsform the EU from the bottom up. Despite facing obstacles from neoliberal policies from the EU and member states, these cities are finding ways to bypass many of these hurdles.

All eyes may be on the 'Brexit' process, but far more attention needs to be given to the way in which post-Brexit EU-UK trade negotiations are being conducted. While corporate interests seek to shape the future trade deal in their own interests, the public remains in the dark.

To classify as strongly and widely as possible, or not to – that is the EU’s question on titanium dioxide right now. The chemical is found in many everyday items including sunscreen and paint and is a “suspected carcinogen”. Discussion of the classification issue are underway, and what is already clear is that the controversy about corporate lobbying on this file is making some member states think again.

Excessive corporate influence over policy-making remains a serious threat to the public interest across Europe and at the EU level, warns a new report by our partner organisation ALTER-EU.

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 today warned that to live up to its promising objectives, the proposal must be amended.

Corporate Europe Observatory shows how the past ten years of financial lobbying have left us vulnerable to future crises and costly bailouts. Despite their responsibility for the 2008 crash, the financial sector has successfully avoided major reform in the decade since - and has shaped new legislation with big loopholes and conditions similar to those that created the crash in the first place.

Ten years since the crisis - here is our wrap up of the financial lobby's role in causing the crisis and how they have since continued to fight back against people's demands for effective rules on financial markets.

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. In the following interview, our Czech board member Jakub Patočka explains what is at stake in the country as targeted defamation campaigns and funding withdrawals risk to make the work of critical NGOs and newspapers