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The changes to the lobby register announced by Commission today [1] will fix some of the weaknesses in the initial design of the register, but fundamental flaws remain. This means that EU citizens are largely left in the dark about the activities of the more than 15,000 Brussels lobbyists, according to the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) who called on the European Parliament to secure the necessary overhaul of the register.

ALTER-EU study shines spotlight on low compliance and dodgy data


As the European Commission prepares to review its voluntary lobby register one year after its official launch in 2008, the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) has published a detailed report highlighting the failures of the register and putting forward concrete proposals for improvement.

One of the world’s largest cigarette companies spent more than €700,000 lobbying the EU last year, up to four times as much as the company declared on the EU’s register of interest representatives, new research by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has revealed [1].


The revelations come as the tobacco industry fights to retain its influence within the EU after a World Health Organisation agreement on preventing the influence of vested interests from the tobacco industry in policy making [2].

Millions of euros of EU research money is being directed towards controversial projects which do not benefit the public interest, according to new research from Corporate Europe Observatory published today [1].


The report, which is launched as the European Commission hosts a conference on research in Brussels [2], says that the approval of so-many controversial projects is not surprising, given that many of the companies were also involved in writing the EU’s Strategic Research Agenda, which sets the priorities for new research.

Copenhagen, Saturday 23 May - Swedish energy giant Vattenfall has been revealed as the winner of the Climate Greenwash Award 2009 at a ceremony in Copenhagen on the eve of the World Business Summit on Climate Change [1].
 

Big business is being given unprecedented access to the UN climate negotiations, Corporate Europe Observatory has discovered, with business leaders requesting direct access to negotiators in the climate talks [1].


Documents obtained from the Danish Government reveal that business leaders will be granted special access to key climate negotiators during the World Business Summit on Climate Change, scheduled to start this weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark [2].

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