Miguel Arias Cañete, the Spanish politician nominated as the new EU Commissioner for Climate and Energy, faced tough questioning from MEPs in his parliamentary hearing this evening. Ahead of his hearing Friends of the Earth Europe revealed fresh evidence about his links to the oil industry and his long history of conflicts of interest, and …
Hard facts on Europe’s biggest lobbyists revealed
A new lobby data web tool has for the first time shown which companies, trade associations, lobby consultancies and law firms are the biggest spenders on EU lobbying activities. The data was extracted from LobbyFacts.eu, a new online tool based on the EU lobby register, which allows the data to be sorted, compared, ranked and …
Alarm bells on EU plans for regulatory cooperation in EU-US trade talks
The 7th round of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) kicks off in Washington DC today, amid growing civil society protests at the dangers of the proposed deal for democracy and essential regulations in the areas of public health, safety, the environment and the financial sector. Dozens of civil society groups from …
Alarm bells on EU plans for regulatory cooperation in EU-US trade talksRead more
Trojan horse trade deal could increase GM food and crops in Europe
Fears are growing that the proposed EU-US trade deal (known as TTIP) will lead to food contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) being allowed into Europe for human consumption, despite public reassurances that food safety standards would be maintained. Analysis of the text published Friday (26 September 2014) from recently completed trade negotiations with Canada …
Trojan horse trade deal could increase GM food and crops in EuropeRead more
Cañete’s conflicts of interests continue to concern
Fresh evidence about the close links between Miguel Arias Cañete, who has been named to take over as the EU’s energy and climate chief, and the oil industry, has been revealed by Friends of the Earth Europe ahead of his hearing in the European Parliament today. Following concern about his suitability to take on the …
Cañete’s conflicts of interests continue to concernRead more
Revolving doors processes should be ‘more robust’
A ruling by the European Ombudsman today that the European Commission should make its processes on revolving doors cases ‘more robust’ to avoid conflicts of interest, has been welcomed by Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory, Greenpeace, LobbyControl and SpinWatch. The verdict of the European Ombudsman comes two years after a group of NGOs …
