Press

The upcoming Finnish Presidency High-Level Conference on 3 December 2019 in Helsinki puts the spotlight on the so-called “innovation principle”. The innovation principle was invented and pushed by the chemical, tobacco, and fossil fuel industry lobby groups. It is essentially a tool for undermining the EU’s environmental and public health protections and the precautionary principle, and for securing EU funding for industry’s Research & Development needs.

Civil society organisations demand fossil free politics.

Europe’s four biggest gas transport companies own half the EU’s LNG terminals and enough pipeline to stretch around the world two and a half times. A new briefing by the European Network of Corporate Observatories reveals that their lobby influence has secured EU support for yet more lucrative infrastructure projects to expand an already under-used gas network.

As gig economy companies are spending more than ever on lobbying the EU, new study “Uber Influential” shows how the likes of Uber and AirBnB are fighting the regulation of their sector in Europe.

As US President Trump this week reaffirmed a new EU-US trade deal as the only way to avert new punitive tariffs on EU manufactured import goods, the ongoing trade negotiations between the trading blocs are back in the headlines. A new report today warns of the serious risks of such a trade agreement for public health, consumer rights and the environment.

New research reveals the devastating consequences of the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. Common in international trade and investment agreements, ISDS creates a parallel justice system that rolls out the red carpet for corporations to sue states when those act in the public interest.

Authoritarian politicians look set to do well in the European Parliament elections on 26 May 2019. Corporate Europe Observatory new report offers a comprehensive overview of and shocking insights into the authoritarian right across the EU, as hundreds of millions of European citizens prepare to cast their vote.

Chemical company Bayer last night suspended its contract with Brussels’ biggest lobby consultancy firm FleishmanHillard.

Pharmaceutical industry lobbying in Brussels is blocking any solution to the growing problem of extremely high medicine prices in Europe, a new report by Corporate Europe Observatory reveals. The crisis of affordability that has long plagued health care systems in the Global South has reached the European Union, as the industry’s profit maximisation logic is becoming deeply embedded in EU regulation.