(24 November 2011) Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) of which EPSU is a member is drawing attention to the high level Commission officials that join the lobby industry, resulting in abuses of power, according to a new report published today. The report urges greater transparency and tough new rules to stop public employees moving through the “revolving door” into private sector lobby roles, often without any cooling-off period or restrictions being imposed. (...)

(Press Communication, 2 May 2011) The European Union recently saw a string of scandals with European Parliamentarians who took money from journalists posing as corporate lobbyists to influence legislation and former EU Commissioners that took lucrative jobs in companies they used to oversee and regulate. The European Alliance for more Transparency in Lobbying (Alter-EU) is arguing for strict rules and registration of corporate lobbyists. The coalition is active in exposing corruption and (...)

(10 January 2010) The final plenary session of the EP reached agreement over the Regulation on the European Citizens´ Initiative 15 December 2010.
The Regulation will lay down what conditions and practicalities need to be fulfilled when organizing an ECI to obtain a million signatures. An organizing committee of 7 from 7 different Member States needs to be set up. Signatures need to come from at least a quarter of Member States with minimum numbers defined. The Commission will verify the (...)

(16 November 2010) It is a well known fact that there are thousands of lobbyists active in Brussels. Most work for corporations and seek to ensure weak regulations and enforcement. Especially in the area of health and safety there is an almost direct link between soft and weak laws and dangers for workers. And business lies in its lobbying to exaggerate the costs of regulations while downplaying the benefits.
Rory O’Neill, Editor of Hazards magazine www.hazards.org and Professor, (...)

(6 September 2010) The proposed regulation of the Commission on the European Citizens’ Initiative makes its rounds through the European institutions.
The Committee of the Regions has issued an opinion and most recently the European Economic and Social Committee took position. It has followed the position of EPSU on a great number of issues including the time limit, the number of member states, the overburdening demands in the Commission proposal for signatures at the start. The Committee (...)

(16 August) An independent NGO Health Action International (HAI) Europe published research based on a survey on levels of financial disclosure and transparency among patient and consumer organisations at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The main findings and key conclusions:
Two-thirds of the patient and consumer organisations working with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) received partial or significant funding from pharmaceutical manufacturers and/or industry associations. This (...)

(15 April 2010) The European party of socialists and democrats organized a public hearing to discuss with MEPs and civil society the proposal of the European Commission on the European Citizens’ Initiative. The S&D speakers welcomed the initiative of the Commission. Martin Schulz, chair of the S&D group opened the conference and underlined the importance of the European Citizens’ Initiative. The Spanish State Secretary for the European Union, Diego Lopez Garrido stressed that the Citizens’ (...)

(25 March 2010) Corporate Observatory Europe published a new report on the EU 2020 strategy. It compares the views of European Round Table of Industrialists and finds that on key issues the Commission follows the view of the ERT. And let us not forget what it is all about as Baron Janssen, a member of the ERT (ex-CEO of chemical giant Solvay): The vision is about ― reducing the power of the state and of the public sector in general through privatisation and deregulation" and "transferring (...)

(27 October 2009) EPSU signed the founding statement of the ALTER-EU coalition in 2005, together with over 160 other public interest groups, academics and trade unions from across Europe. For four years now, groups in the ALTER-EU coalition have campaigned for ending corporate privileges and secrecy around lobbying in the EU. The coalition is now a leading voice in the debate in Brussels and in Europe on the European Transparency Initiative and the need for lobby disclosure and ethics (...)

(7 January 2009) A report was published by Corporate Europe Observatory on the Veolia Environment EU lobbying activities in the water sector, "Turning on the taps in Brussels", 17 December 2008. The report can be found at: http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/turning-on-the-taps.pdf
The report shows according to the CEO Press release that the water giant’s environmental and "responsible lobbying" claims are far from matching the extent and content of its actual activities: Veolia has set up (...)