European Elections 2014

Hopefully you will have heard about the Politics for People campaign during the European elections? Politics for People was a major campaign co-ordinated by the ALTER-EU coalition and involving many partner organisations across 19 EU member states. Together we asked prospective MEPs to sign up to a pledge to "stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business" and at the end of the campaign, over 1330 candidates had done so, of whom more than 170 were elected as MEPs. Now the challenge is to make the Politics for People pledge a reality.

As the dust has settled after the European Parliament elections last month, we're taking another look at the election debates in several member states where excessive corporate influence on EU decision-making and other concerns about the role of lobbying in Brussels became a major theme. We have previously reported on Austria and Denmark, but in Germany and Spain there were also big breakthroughs in the level of debate about these important problems.

Secretive lobbying, excessive corporate influence on EU decision-making and other concerns about the role of lobbying in Brussels have become a major theme in the European Parliament election debates in Austria, Denmark and Germany and – to a lesser extent – Spain, Italy and other European countries. In this first of a series of blogs we zoom in on the debates in Denmark and Austria.

There is a major controversy running in the Czech Republic right now over who will become the country's candidate for the next European Commission. One of two candidates who have a chance is Pavel Telička. Telička is also the lead candidate for the European Parliament elections for the ANO Movement, the party of billionaire business tycoon Andrej Babis (often referred to as the Czech Berlusconi). Telička's candidacy has been criticised by other parties because he is a lobbyist. The country's Prime Minister Sobotka (of the social democratic ČSSD) has warned “this could be perceived as a strong

The week before the elections for the European Parliament, a multitude of citizens and social movements will unite in resistance against the neoliberal policies of austerity and privatisation pushed by the Troika and all complicit governments. The European Week of Action calls for real democracy from below, refusing to accept the attempts by corporate Europe and politicians to rehabilitate neoliberalism on the backs of employees as well as unemployed, retirees, migrants and the youth.

At the end of May the whole of Europe will be going to the ballot box for the 2014 European Parliament elections. But when the votes are counted and members-to-be (MEPs) take their place, who are they going to represent – people or profit?

Today, a European alliance of over 50 civil society organisations will launch the Alternative Trade Mandate pledge campaign, calling on European Parliament election candidates to make EU trade and investment policy serve people and the planet, not just the profit of a few large corporations.

In the run-up to the European elections in late May, many members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be considering their future careers. If experiences from the end of the previous parliamentary term in 2009 are any indication, many will be approached by lobby firms and industry groups hoping to entice them through the revolving door: the route from the European Parliament to Brussels' for-profit lobby circles is a well-trodden path.

At the moment, too many European citizens feel alienated from the decisions made in Brussels. And that is not surprising. Big corporations, lobby consultancies and law firms spend hundreds of millions of euros every year to ensure that EU policy-making meets the needs of big business and not the public interest – and it works.