PRESS RELEASE
from CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORY
CAPTURED STATES: WHEN EU GOVERNMENTS CHANNEL CORPORATE INTERESTS
AHEAD OF A LOOMING BREXIT, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS, AND A NEW EU
COMMISSION, CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORY’S NEW REPORT “_CAPTURED
STATES: WHEN EU GOVERNMENTS CHANNEL CORPORATE INTERESTS_ [1]” OFFERS A
UNIQUE OVERVIEW OF THE WAY EU MEMBER STATES COMMONLY ACT AS MIDDLEMEN FOR
CORPORATE INTERESTS AT THE EU LEVEL.
Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland, and the
UK are some of the member states at the focus of the new report. It
features over 20 case studies highlighting the frequency and breadth of
issues on which national governments promote the interests of corporations
rather than the public interest in opaque EU bodies.
>From climate and energy policies, emissions rules, financial and banking
regulation, to public health and environment policy, pesticide laws, trade
and investment agreements, and even online data privacy rules: the
_Captured States_ [1] report shows that too many areas of EU policy-making
are skewed in favour of big corporations and carry the fingerprints of
governments channelling industry demands and red lines into the EU sphere.
Complex EU decision-making processes and weak national parliamentary
scrutiny of government positions on European issues have created an
accountability deficit, which corporate lobbies are happy to take advantage
of. Governments, at the same time, tend to find it convenient to blame a
remote EU for decisions that are unpopular at home.
Non-transparent working practices at the EU level make it easier for member
states to side with corporate lobbies in ways that are hard to trace and
even harder to challenge. The infamously opaque Council of the EU and its
rotating 6-month presidency, the European Council, Commission advisory
groups, EU agencies like EFSA and ECHA and their committees, as well as the
Commission's comitology process, are some of the influential bodies and
mechanisms with member state representatives in the driving seat - often
behind closed doors.
CORPORATE EUROPE OBSERVATORY’S CORPORATE CAPTURE RESEARCHER VICKY CANN
SAID:
"Many member states are acting as middlemen for corporate interests on EU
decision-making. Our examples cover the length and breadth of the EU and
show that when corporate interests come first, the public interest loses
out.
"We hope this report will alert voters, civil society and decision-makers
in EU states to the threat that corporate influences on their governments
have on EU decision-making. It's time that member state governments stopped
offering privileged access to business elites, and instead provided
citizens with information and a clear voice on EU matters."
CONTACT:
Vicky Cann (EN), vi...@corporateeurope.org, +44 (0) 1494 864649
Belén Balanyá (ES), be...@corporateeurope.org, +31 (0) 6330 90386
NOTES TO EDITORS:
*
Access the FULL REPORT in English [2]: _Captured states: when EU
governments are a channel for corporate interests_
*
Read the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of the report in:
*
English [3]: _Captured states: when EU governments are a channel for
corporate interests_
*
French [4]: _États capturés : les gouvernements nationaux, défenseurs
des intérêts privés au sein de l'UE_
*
Spanish [5]: _Gobiernos cautivos: los estados de la UE como canal para los
intereses empresariales_
*
German [6]: _Gekaperte Staaten: Wie Konzerne ihre Interessen durch
Regierungen von EU-Mitgliedsstaaten umsetzen_
*
English, incl. UK case studies [7]: _Captured states: when EU governments
are a channel for corporate interests_
*
Static URL: corporateeurope.org/CapturedStates [1]
Links:
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[1]
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[2]
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[3]
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[4]
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[5]
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[6]
http://media.corporateeurope.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1663&qid=199050
[7]
http://media.corporateeurope.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1664&qid=199050
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