Press

Brussels, 22 June - Two years after its introduction the European Commission's lobby register has failed to bring lobbying into the open,the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU) said today. The group used the anniversary of the register to call on the Commission to take urgent steps towards a mandatory, joint register for the European Commission and European Parliament with improved transparency standards.

Friends of the Earth International / Corporate Europe Observatory
Media Advisory

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), 8 June 2010 – A proposed new label for ‘responsible’ soy will not stop deforestation, 235 civil society groups from across the globe warned in a letter today, ahead of a conference set to finalise the labeling scheme in Sao Paulo, Brazil. [1]

Brussels, 26 April 2010 – The ALTER-EU coalition today sets out its road map for greater transparency and accountability in the European Union with the publication of a new book: Bursting the Brussels Bubble – the battle to expose corporate lobbying at the heart of the EU”.

Brussels, 14 April 2010 – The European Commission's new initiatives to regulate financial markets are based on unbalanced advisory groups dominated by financial services lobbyists, new research published by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) today shows. This has delayed and undermined the quality of the Commission’s regulatory responses to the financial crisis.

The Germany-based NGO Testbiotech has today filed an official complaint with the European Ombudsman against EFSA, the EU's food safety agency. The complaint targets EFSA's decision to allow Suzy Renckens, head of EFSA'sGMO Unit, to become a lobbyist for biotech giant Syngenta, without any 'cooling off' period or other restrictions. Renckens move to become a leading lobbyist for one of the major biotech companies in Europe implies an obvious conflict of interest.

Aggressive free market approach disastrous for development, demo warns

Brussels:
Campaigners warned today that the European Union’s free market trade policies are savaging poor people and the environment in
developing countries staging an action outside a DG Trade conference in Brussels where senior EU figures were discussing the issue of trade with developing countries [1].

The winner of the Angry Mermaid Award 2009, announced by award-winning writer and journalist Naomi Klein at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen today is the biotech giant Monsanto with 37% of the total vote [1].


Oil giant Shell took second place (18%) in the Award for lobbying to sabotage effective action on climate change, followed by the American Petroleum Institute (14%).


Ten thousand people voted in the Angry Mermaid Award, named after the iconic Copenhagen mermaid who is angry about corporate lobbying on climate change.

Brussels/Copenhagen, 9 December - Business lobbyists have been pushing governments to reject tough targets on carbon emissions cuts, according to a new lobbying guide published today by Corporate Europe Observatory [1].


Making money out of climate change is a four-page guide to some of the business lobby groups active in Copenhagen. It highlights how the UN climate negotiations have become a major target for business groups, keen to see their preferred “solutions” - such as nuclear power, a global emissions market and carbon capture and storage - included on the agenda.