CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORY EMBARGOED TILL APRIL 30TH - 00.01 AM IN THE MEANTIME IN BRUSSELS: THE EU CORONA LOBBY BONANZA
AS THE CORONA PANDEMIC CONTINUES DOMINATING THE LIVES OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ACROSS THE GLOBE, CORPORATE LOBBYING IS THRIVING IN BRUSSELS. LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING A WIDE SPECTRUM OF INDUSTRIES HAVE JUMPED AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE CRISIS FOR THEIR ADVANTAGE, CLEANING UP THE PR OR RE-PACKAGING OLD LOBBY DEMANDS. CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORY (CEO) NEW RESEARCH [1] analyses the wave of corporate lobbies seeking to use the current pandemic to their advantage: from the obvious pharmaceutical industry and big tech firms to the less obvious defence and agrochemical companies, fossil fuel firms and carmakers associations. Also corporate lobby groups such as BusinessEurope, the European Round Table of Industrialists and Confindustria have put forward the corporate agenda at EU level. To add to the often rather opportunistic 'logic' of lobbyists, much of the lobbying goes unchecked. Although virtual lobby meetings need to meet the same transparency requirements, the COVID crisis shows even more clearly why the EU's transparency rules are too weak to actually allow citizens to see what is taking place right now. Lobby watchdog CEO will therefore be launching a tracker of the EU 'corona lobby bonanza' via the 'Corona Lobby Watch' . We will be continiously collecting examples of 'corona-washing' in an effort to enable the scrutiny of corporate lobbying. CEO-researcher Margarida Silva said: "The examples of corporate lobbies opportunistically using this public health crisis to repackage their demands are piling up. Environmental, fiscal and health standards seem to be under attack. It is now more important than ever for EU policy-makers and officials to be careful and question the information and requests put forward by lobbyists." "If policy-makers simply heed to the corporate lobby wish list, measures taken during this crisis might end up lowering the standards and protections we need to get out of it. This in return would worsen our chances of addressing the climate crisis and delivering a more just society." ENDS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR INTERVIEW REQUESTS, PLEASE CONTACT: Margarida Silva, researcher at CEO: +32487823541 - margar...@corporateeurope.org Links: ------ [1] http://media.corporateeurope.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1942&qid=217713 to unsubscribe: http://media.corporateeurope.org/civicrm/mailing/optout?reset=1&jid=3399&qid=217713&h=0247954d3de54693 Rue d'Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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