Press

New research by Corporate Europe Observatory shows how a behind-the-scenes Council 'working party' which plays a key role in preparing the positions that member states take in the Council on proposed EU laws and policies is offering privileged access to corporate interests.

A new scientific analysis (1) concludes that the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) claim that glyphosate is not genotoxic cannot be justified on the basis of manufacturers’ studies. Of the 53 industry-funded studies used for the EU’s current authorization of glyphosate, 34 were identified as "not reliable", 17 as "partly reliable" and only 2 studies as "reliable" from a methodological point of view.

Big business is lobbying for a new EU court that could make member states pay huge sums of public money in compensation to corporations, when they regulate to protect workers, consumers and the environment. The hidden lobby battle is uncovered in a new report published today by lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).

Corporate lobbyists are fighting an announced EU law that seeks to hold companies accountable for human rights abuses and environmental destruction. This is evident from a new report by Brussels-based lobby-watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) and Friends of the Earth Europe based on dozens of documents obtained through freedom of information requests.        

Lobby Watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) today publishes evidence that the EU Council of Ministers decided its position on patents on covid-19 vaccines (as well as therapeutics and diagnostics) in secret on 20 May, to prepare for ongoing global negotiations on the crucial matter. Despite huge public interest and debate on this issue, MEPs and national parliamentarians were kept in the dark about this discussion.    

Over more than one year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission has held meetings primarily with representatives of Big Pharma or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (1) and associated organizations like ‘Global Citizen’. The Commission has listened almost exclusively to this echo chamber which pushes protecting Big Pharma patent rights, despite the way they are exacerbating global vaccine apartheid.

The study released today by the European Commission on products from new GM techniques like CRISPR-Cas shows that the institution has been lending its ears almost entirely to the biotech industry. The study suggests that the current EU GMO rules may not be “fit for purpose” for some new GM applications. It is a clear first step to the deregulation of these techniques, which would mean no safety checks for the environment or public health, nor consumer labelling.

The biggest pharmaceutical companies have proved to be staunch opponents of sharing technology on COVID vaccines and medicines. In particular, they are fiercely opposed to a proposal to temporarily suspend intellectual property rights on vaccines and medicines for the duration of the pandemic, as proposed by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization. And after lobby meetings the European Commission basically agreed to the wishes of the pharmaceutical industry. 

Several industry EU lobby groups are about to be entrusted again the privilege of co-deciding how €9.6 billion of public EU research funding should be used, in research areas as essential as healthcare, transportation, energy, biomass-based manufacturing processes or IT infrastructures.