Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008 -

The Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008

Thousands of corporate lobbyists roam the corridors of power in Brussels. Operating out of the spotlight, many of them do not hesitate to employ improper methods, like pretending to be concerned environmentalists, buying science, secretly funding anarcho-capitalist think-tanks, or securing privileged access to EU decision-makers. The idea behind the Worst EU Lobbying Awards is to discourage such controversial lobbying practices by exposing them to the public.

The Awards also highlight the need for mandatory transparency and ethics rules for EU lobbying. In June this year, the European Commission asked lobbyists to register themselves in a public register and to explain who they work for, and how much money is involved. But the lobbying register is voluntary, and it is so weak and flawed that it does not prevent lobbyists from working in the dark.

The Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008 are organized by The Worst EU Lobbying Awards are organised by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch.

Categories in 2008

This year there are two Award categories:

The ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award for the lobbyist, company or lobby group that in 2008 has employed the most deceptive, misleading, or otherwise problematic lobbying tactics in their attempts to influence EU decision-making.
The special ‘Worst Conflict of Interest’ Award for the MEP, Commissioner or Commission official whose background, side-jobs or other liaisons with special interests raise the most serious concerns about their ability to act in public interest.

The candidates were selected out of 54 nominations by citizens and groups from around Europe after thorough scrutiny by the organisers.

Timeline

Summer 2008
Open for nominations

September 12, 2008
Nominations close

October 20, 2008
Start of internet voting

November 30, 2008
Voting closed

December 9, 2008
Worst EU Lobbying Awards ceremony

Previous Award winners

Last year, German car makers BMW, Daimler and Porsche won the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award 2007 for their misleading and scaremongering lobby campaign to water down EU curbs on CO2-emissions from passenger cars. The German Atomic Forum received the special ‘Worst EU Greenwash’ Award for its campaign “Germany’s unloved climate protectionists”, which tried to greenwash the image of nuclear power plants.