Captured states

Industry lobbies continue their push to avoid robust obligations in the EU's proposal for dealing with single-use plastics.

Corporate Europe Observatory has started a new workstream to publish investigations which expose corporate lobby influence over the decision-making of the Council of the EU (member states) and how this impacts on resulting laws and policies. This is one of murkiest and least-known aspects of EU decision-making.

The EU is about to adopt new rules that will help trade in securitised loans, the very financial instruments that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis. Despite warning signs of a new 'subprime bubble' in car loans coming from the US, carmakers and financiers have lobbied the EU to make it easier to speculate on such loans.

When the EU’s 'Roam like at home' policy kicks in next week, it will be widely portrayed as a success story by EU leaders. But behind the scenes, a faction of member states absorbed the interests of their telecom companies, and secured compromises which have led to roaming becoming more complex and weaker than it might otherwise have been.

A new investigation by Corporate Europe Observatory and Seas at Risk reveals that fishing industry lobbyists have used press passes to access the EU Council building during crucial ministerial negotiations on fishing quotas.

Members of the copyright industry and their political allies are fighting proposed copyright exceptions. For the 285 million blind and visually impaired people globally, such exceptions would provide better access to a wider range of print publications.

Crucial decisions “to save the Euro” and “to save Greece” were made at the Euro Summits in July and October 2011. While the decision making process was taking place, the press reported several informal negotiations between EU leaders and the banks, mostly represented by the Institute of International Finance (IIF). What was exactly the role of this lobby group in the final decisions? And what did it get from the deal?