Agrofuels lobby and Finnish MEP disgraced at Worst EU Lobbying Awards ceremony
Brussels, 9 December -- The winners of the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Awards have been revealed at a ceremony in Brussels, despite a last minute attempt to gag the organisers with legal action from one of the candidates. More than 8500 people took part in the online public vote.
One of the candidates for the Worst Conflict of Interest Award, suspended Commission official Fritz-Harald Wenig, unsuccessfully tried to silence the Worst EU Lobbying Awards last week by taking legal action in the Court of First Instance in Brussels to have his name removed from the nominations and not have his name mentioned during the Worst Lobbying Awards ceremony. The court ruled that freedom of speech was more important in this case.
This year's Award for the Worst EU Lobbying 2008, with more than 50% of the votes, goes to a joint nomination for the agrofuel lobbyists, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Brazilian sugar barons UNICA and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy for their use of misleading information and greenwash. The lobbyists tried to influence crucial debates in the European Parliament and Council by claiming that agrofuels (crops used for fuel for cars and lorries) are sustainable [1].
The Worst Conflict of Interest Award 2008 goes to the Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi, with 26% of the votes cast. MEP Kauppi has been promoting the interests of her future employer, a banking lobbying group, while still an active member of the European Parliament. Kauppi has consistently urged light-touch regulation for the banking sector and in January 2009 will officially be employed by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services [2].
VOTING RESULTS:
Worst Lobbying Award [Total online votes cast 8643]:
The agrofuels lobby (including MPOC, Unica and Abengoa) 52%
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) 14%
Gplus and Aspect Consulting 13% The European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM) 12%
The European Business and Parliament Scheme (EBPS) 10%
Worst Conflict of Interest Award [Total online votes cast 8394]:
Piia-Noora Kauppi MEP 26%
Dr Caroline Jackson MEP 23%
Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP 22%
Ex-European Commission officials Petite, Klotz and Kjolbye 14%
