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Newshook: European trade ministers meet in Brussels in run up to WTO Hong Kong meeting
Report reveals role of corporate lobbyists in setting EU trade agenda
EU trade policy is being driven by the demands of European businesses for new markets rather than by the needs of developing countries, European citizens or the environment according to a report released as European trade ministers meet in Brussels today.
Brussels is now home to over 15,000 lobbyists (more than one for every European Commission official) but just 10 per cent of these represent environmental and social groups. A report (1) published today by Seattle to Brussels, a pan-European network of organisations campaigning on trade issues, details the extraordinary access of corporate lobby groups and business bodies to the European Commission. It shows how the trade policy that emerges from this hidden and unregulated relationship overwhelmingly reflects the demands of European multinational companies in current negotiations on agriculture, trade in services and non-agricultural market access.
Author of the report Christina Deckwirth said today: "Europe's primary objective in trade negotiations in Hong Kong is to secure access for European companies to developed and developing country markets. The European Commission's demands that developing countries slash their industrial tariffs, and open up their service sectors and agricultural markets do not reflect the wishes of the European public. They are being fiercely resisted by developing countries and civil society groups yet somehow Peter Mandelson continues to claim he is pursuing a development agenda at the WTO."
The report "The EU Corporate Trade Agenda" sets out in detail the variety of heavily resourced corporate lobby groups currently found swarming the European Commission in Brussels. From employers groups such as the Confederation of British Industry and UNICE to corporate lawyers White&Case and Herbert Smith, public affairs consultancies Gplus Europe and Burson-Marsteller, and business lobby groups such as the European Services Forum and the European Roundtable of Industrialists. The study exposes the close contacts and revolving doors between business and senior EU officials (including numerous ex Commissioners) and the privileged access to the European Commission's Directorate General Trade, which negotiates on behalf of the European member states.
Alexandra Wandel of Friends of the Earth Europe today said: "A massive industry of corporate lobbying has grown up in Brussels. The report shows that the European Commission opens its doors for these lobbyists and jointly drafts its trade agenda with, or in the interests of, corporate lobbyists. Ultimately, the European Commission pursues a narrow business-first agenda leaving behind social and environmental standards. Until we expose the relationship and curb the EU's practices of privileged access for the lobbyists of transnational corporations, the EU will continue to pursue a corporate trade agenda. The needs of European citizens, the environment and development will always come last."
Notes:
(1) The report is available at http://www.s2bnetwork.org/EU_corporate_trade_agenda.pdf
Contacts:
* Christina Deckwirth, Seattle to Brussels Network, (English, German), +49 (0)163 2321413
* Alexandra Wandel, Friends of the Earth Europe, (English, German), +49 (0)172 748 39 53
* Dave Timms, World Development Movement, UK, +44 (0)7711 875 345
* John Coventry, War on Want, UK +44 (0)7905 397 084
* Marc Maes, 11.11.11, Belgium (Dutch, English), +32 497 600 442
* Amandine Bach, Women in Development Europe (French), +32 495 860436
* Kim Bizzarri, FoEE (Italian), tel+32 (0)472 213705
*The Seattle to Brussels (S2B) Network is a pan-European network campaigning to promote a sustainable, socially and democratically accountable system of trade. www.s2bnetwork.org
