Counter Corporate Lobby Power

Ending corporate privileges and secrecy around lobbying at the EU

Over 15,000 professional lobbyists now operate in Brussels, a large majority representing business interests. Yet, ethics and transparency rules around lobbying are virtually non-existent. Beyond the problem of business spending ever-increasing amounts to influence the political process, the European Commission has developed a tradition of awarding privileged access to corporate interests.

Explore the issue The quest for more transparency: The European Transparency Initiative (ETI) and ALTER-EU's (Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation) campaign to improve transparency around lobbying. The wider problem: Privileged access and undue influence granted to corporate lobbyists, conflicts of interests of decision-makers, and revolving doors between EU institutions and business result in excessive corporate power over the EU.

 

	The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)

Friends of the Earth Europe is one of the founders of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), a civil society coalition advocating mandatory disclosure and ethics rules for EU lobbyists. ALTER-EU was officially launched at a press conference in Brussels on 19 July 2005 (see founding statement). It calls for the following:

1) EU Lobbying Disclosure legislation which must include a mandatory system of electronic registration and reporting for all lobbyists with a significant annual lobbying budget and enforcable ethics rules for lobbyists.

2) An improved code of conduct for European Commission officials, including recording of formal and informal meetings between Commission officials and lobbyists and extended 'cooling off' periods before Commissioners and senior officials can start working in the lobbying sector.

3) An end to privileged access and undue influence granted to corporate lobbyists, for instance, joint taskforces in which corporate interests are represented while public interest NGOs are not; and the privileged status accorded to business lobby groups like the European Services Forum and the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue.

ALTER-EU is supported by over 140 civil society groups, trade unions, academics and public affairs firms (see list of signatories).

If you want to join, please go to: http://www.alter-eu.org/contact

ALTER-EU has just published a new book: Bursting the Brussels Bubble - the battle to expose corporte lobbying at the heart of the EU - which was launched on 26th April.

It reveals how lobbyists from the world of big business have embedded themselves inside the European Union's de...cision-making process, creating a political culture where the influence of business has become the norm.

The book also highlights how campaigners have sought to challenge this corporate capture and sets out a way forward to build a more democratic and accountable European Union.

Copies of the book can be ordered online (http://eubookshop.com/1/350) or downloaded as a pdf from http://www.alter-eu.org/book/bursting-the-brussels-bubble.

Recommended reading from anyone concerned about how decisions in the EU are actually made...

THE WIDER PROBLEM: Corporate Power over the EU

Whether it is EU energy policy, liberalisation and privatisation agendas, or the preparation of trade talks - corporate lobbies always have their fingers in the pie. Other interests and values, such as environment or social justice, are often left to the back seats.

The enormous influence of corporate lobbyists undermines democracy and all too frequently results in postponing, weakening or blocking urgently needed progress on EU social, environmental and consumer protection.

Friends of the Earth Europe, together with their allies in the ALTER-EU and Seattle-to-Brussels networks, researches and exposes cases of corporate lobby power and challenges the undue influence of corporate interests over EU policy.

We counter:

• the privileged access to EU decision-making processes often granted to corporate lobbyists
• conflicts of interests and revolving doors between EU institutions and business
• cases of questionable or shady lobbying

More information:

The Angry Mermaid Award: 15 December 2009 - the winner of the Angry Mermaid Award for Worst Climate Lobbyist has been announced - and it's Monsanto, with a whopping 37% of the votes! Monsanto were nominated for lobbying to get their genetically modified RoundupReady soy certified as a 'climate-friendly' crop that would be eligible for carbon credits and subsidies under the UN Clean Development Mechanism. They were co-nominated with the Roundtable on Responsible Soy, for pushing a meaningless 'responsible' label for RoundupReady soy, which could then be used as a 'sustainable' agrofuel.

Naomi Klein announces the winner of the Angry Mermaid Award in Copenhagen. Photo: Natacha Cingotti

Second and third places went to Shell and the American Petroleum Institute. Thanks to everyone who looked beyond the corporate lobbying and greenwash and cast a vote! You can see details of all the nominees here.

The Angry Mermaid arrives in Copenhagen. Photo: Sam Fleet

The Angry Mermaid Award was a Copenhagen-themed edition of our annual Worst EU Lobby Award, starring the famous Copenhagen mermaid, who is angry at the way corporations and lobby groups are promoting their own interests at the expense of the planet - you can watch the animated story of the Angry Mermaid below!

 

Worst EU Lobby Awards: naming and shaming misleading, manipulative and otherwise controversial EU lobbying practices and demonstrate the need to act against them, to foster transparency and democracy

Agrofuels lobby and Finnish MEP disgraced at Worst EU Lobbying Awards ceremony

Brussels, 9 December 2008- The winners of the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Awards have been revealed at a ceremony in Brussels today, 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.

History of the Awards

In 2007, German car trio BMW, Daimler and Porsche won the Worst EU Lobbying award with more than 30% of the vote; and the special Greenwash Award went to the German Atomic Forum for its attempts to green nuclear energy. The 2006 prize went to ExxonMobil for their secretive funding of climate-skeptic think tanks, and in 2005 the award was given to the Campaign for Creativity, a front group for large IT companies to lobby for stronger software patents and intellectual property rights.

'Worst EU Lobbying' award 2007
'Worst EU Lobbying' award 2006
'Worst EU Lobbying' award 2005

 

A Captive Commission: the role of the financial industry in shaping EU regulation
 The vast majority of financial 'experts' advising the European Commission represent the banks and investors responsible for the global economic crisis, according to a new report published today by ALTER-EU (5 November 2009)

Secrecy and corporate dominance
ALTER-EU study on composition and transparency of European Commission Expert Groups (25 March 2008)

 

Conflicts of Interest

Success in ombudsman complaint against European Commission: the ombudsman accepts our complaint about a conflict of interest in the commission (29 October 2009)
- Read the press release

European Commission fails to act on conflicts of interests: ALTER-EU says the new Communication on ethics is far too weak ( 06 March 2008)
- Read the press release
- Read the critique on the background study Regulating Conflicts of Interest for Holders of Public Office in the European Union

 

Taking Lobby Transparency Seriously

Success in Ombusman complaint on access to documents request about correspondence between Porsche and Commission: Following the European Commission refusal to disclose the correspondence between car-maker Porsche and former Commission Vice-President G. Verheugen about proposals to reduce cars CO2 emissions in 2006, Friends of the Earth Europe successfully filed a complaint to the European Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman pointed at the Commission for its "unco-operative attitude". More than 15 months after the Ombudsman asked the Commission to give access to the documents, it eventually sent the letters on 11 March 2010 but it failed to disclose the whole content of the correspondence.

- Read the decision from the ombudsman here

- Read the letters disclosed by the Commission (11 March 2010)

Complaint about registration of BusinessEurope: Following the European Commission's failure to tackle the unrealistically low registration of professional association BusinessEurope in the register of Interest representatives, Friends of the Earth Europe files a complaint to the European Ombudsman for maladministration (3 December 2009)

- Read Friends of the Earth Europe's official complaint to the European Commission (10 April 2009)
- Read the first response from the Commission (5 May 2009)
- Read FoEE request for further explanation (7 May 2009)
- Read second response from the Commission (13 May 2009)
- Read response from the Commission on Access to Document request (29 June 2009, in French)
- Read Friends of the Earth Europe's official letter attached to the complaint to the European Ombudsman (3rd December 2009)

Cefic suspended from lobby register by Commission: Friends of the Earth Europe successfully files a complaint to the European Commission about the inaccurate registration of chemical lobby group CEFIC in the European Commission register of interest representatives (20 July 2009)
- Read the press release
- Read Friends of the Earth's complaint to the European Commission

 

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