Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008

by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch


Worst EU Lobbying candidates

Brussels-based lobbying and PR agencies Gplus and Aspect Consulting

Nominated for supporting the spread of war propaganda in the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Gplus and Aspect Consulting, acting for Russia and Georgia respectively, attempted to distort the public’s perception of the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia by putting out misleading and deceptive information about the situation on the ground.

European Business and Parliament Scheme (EBPS)

Nominated for abusing their location and lobbying from inside Parliament offices.

The European Business and Parliament Scheme continues to take advantage of prime office space inside the European Parliament, despite requests to leave, allowing it to continue to “inform economic policy and legislation” on behalf of its corporate members.

European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM)

Nominated for hiding the involvement of big pharma corporations in their campaigns.

Vote for the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines who failed to reveal their true motives and the industry funding behind their “public interest” campaign to remove counterfeit and sub-standard medicines from the supply chain.

The Agrofuels Lobby

Nominated for their misleading campaigns to promote agrofuels as green.

Vote for the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), Brazilian sugar barons (UNICA) and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy who have all used misleading information in their European lobby campaigns to try and persuade the European Parliament, Commissioners and member states that agrofuels are sustainable.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)

Nominated for its deceptive lobbying campaign to avoid CO2 reduction obligations in the aviation sector.

IATA actively lobbied in Europe to persuade MEPs and Commissioners that aviation was not a significant source of global warming greenhouse gas emissions, and that it should not therefore be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme - while simultaneously threatening that the entire industry in Europe would face disastrous consequences if aviation was made to pay.

Worst Conflict of Interest candidates

Klaus-Heiner Lehne, Member of the European Parliament

Nominated for his dual role as an MEP and lawyer for EU competition and regulatory issues, and for using his position as an MEP to allow lawyers to lobby in the dark.

DG Trade Director Fritz-Harald Wenig

Nominated for revealing inside information on trade tariffs to “lobbyists” who were in fact journalists working under cover.

Piia-Noora Kauppi, Member of the European Parliament

Nominated for abusing her role as an MEP by promoting the interests of her future employer, a big banking lobby group.

Caroline Jackson, Member of the European Parliament

Nominated for her twin roles as an elected representative dealing with environmental issues and as an appointed environmental advisor to a private waste management company, Shanks.

Former Commission officials Michel Petite, Robert Klotz and Lars Kjølbye

Nominated for going through the revolving door from the European Commission to law firms lobbying for industry clients.