Press

The UK financial sector spends at least €34 million per year on lobbying in Brussels and employs more than 140 lobbyists to influence EU policy-making, according to a study published today by Corporate Europe Observatory. From December 2014 to May 2016, UK financial sector lobbyists had 228 lobby encounters with elite European Commission officials.

In a strongly worded decision, the appointment process of Edmund Stoiber as a high-level special advisor to the European Commission President Juncker has been labelled "misleading", and constituting maladministration.

The European Commission has shelved a legal opinion confirming that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) produced through gene-editing and other new techniques fall under EU GMO law, following pressure from the US government. A series of internal Commission documents obtained under freedom of information rules reveal intense lobbying by US representatives for the EU to disregard its GMO rules, which require safety testing and labelling.

The draft directive on the protection of trade secrets is set to be adopted by member states on May 17.

The stakes for the vote on the trade secrets directive are now clear.

The ''Trade Secrets Protection'' Directive due to be voted on by MEPs on April 14 would give companies new legal ammunition to prosecute journalists and news organisations publishing their documents and information.

The ''Trade Secrets Protection'' Directive due to be voted on by MEPs on April 14 would give companies new legal ammunition to prosecute journalists and news organisations publishing their documents and information.

Corporate lobbyists enjoy widespread access to member state representations according to the first ever study on lobbying activities at national government offices in Brussels. This report exposes yet again the inadequacy of the current EU lobby transparency regime.

45 groups denounce Commission proposal on regulatory cooperation