Interview with Erik Wesselius from Corporate Europe Observatory on lobbying and lobbying transparency in the EU, published in the Belgium paper De Standaard.
Read the full interview (in Flemish) here:
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=802FV58R&word=lobbyisten
Press release from the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER EU):
Brussels, 21 March 2011 – An alliance of transparency campaigners today urged a root and branch overhaul of ethics rules for MEPs, following the revelations published in UK newspaper, the Sunday Times (20 March) exposing how three MEPs were prepared to accept payments in return for tabling amendments in the European Parliament. [1]
Big banks and financial companies are doing their best to stop the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT) in the European Union. A proposal for an FTT is on the table, but still has to be approved by the Council. The industry has put all its lobbying machinery to work, implementing a scaremongering strategy, to convince member states to reject the tax. There is a real risk that their lobbying will pay off, either by defeating the entire idea of taxing transactions, or by watering down an already timid proposal.
Corporate lobbying triggered an angry debate in the European Parliament’s committee on international trade (INTA) on 13 April, following Carl Schlyter MEP's interview with Corporate Europe Observatory. Talking about his role as rapporteur for the European Parliament on the future of EU member states' bilateral investment treaties, Schlyter had said he had never seen such an extreme example of MEPs focusing solely on big business interests. His comments were heavily criticised by MEPs from the European People's Party (EPP) who defended the importance of listening to industry lobbyists.
On 10 December, the annual EU-India summit is held in Brussels where political leaders hope to agree on the broad shape of an EU-India free trade agreement and give the negotiations a final push towards conclusion. A parallel big business summit has been organised alongside, and will provide crucial support – while more and more small businesses and MEPs oppose the deal. At first glance, the business summit looks like it has been organised by industry lobby groups from the EU and India. But internal EU Commission reports obtained through access to information requests show that the EU administration is actively involved in preparations for the event, including the messaging and follow-up. It is lobbying hard to make the forum a key strategic meeting for consensus building and co-operation between Europe and India's corporate elites. And the Commission has provided millions of Euros from its development fund to facilitate this process.
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.