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Message Dear friend, I thought you might be interested in voting at <a href="https://www.worstlobby.eu">the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Awards 2008</a>, the annual award for deceptive, manipulative or unethical lobbying in the EU. This year you can vote in two categories: 1. 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. 2. The ‘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. Select your winners now in both categories and cast your vote at http://www.worstlobby.eu Best wishes, The organisers of the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Awards 2008 Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch

Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008
Winners and runners-up

Brussels, 10 December — The winners of the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Awards have been revealed at a ceremony in Brussels yesterday evening, despite a last minute attempt to gag the organisers with legal action from one of the candidates. More than 8500 people took part in the online public vote.

Impressions of the Awards Ceremony

One of the candidates for the Worst Conflict of Interest Award, suspended Commission official Fritz-Harald Wenig, unsuccessfully tried to silence the Worst EU Lobbying Awards last week by taking legal action in the Court of First Instance in Brussels to have his name removed from the nominations and not have his name mentioned during the Worst Lobbying Awards ceremony. The court ruled that freedom of speech was more important in this case.

With more than 50% of the votes, the Award for the Worst EU Lobbying 2008 is jointly won by the agrofuel lobbyists of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Brazilian sugar barons UNICA and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy. They were jointly nominated for their use of misleading information and greenwash to influence crucial debates in the European Parliament and Council by claiming that agrofuels (crops used for fuel for cars and lorries) are sustainable.

Watch a short movie about the International Biofuels Conference in Sao Paulo Brazil, with a UNICA lobbyist explaining how the company is lobbying the European Commission.

The Worst Conflict of Interest Award 2008 goes to the Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi, with 26% of the votes cast. MEP Kauppi has been promoting the interests of her future employer, a banking lobbying group, while still an active member of the European Parliament. Kauppi has consistently urged light-touch regulation for the banking sector and in January 2009 will officially be employed by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services.

Voting Results:

Worst Lobbying Award [Total online votes cast 8643]

The agrofuels lobby (including MPOC, Unica and Abengoa)	52%
The International Air Transport Association (IATA)	14%
Gplus and Aspect Consulting	13%
The European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM)	12%
The European Business and Parliament Scheme (EBPS)	10%

Worst Conflict of Interest Award [Total online votes cast 8394]

Piia-Noora Kauppi MEP	26%
Dr Caroline Jackson MEP	23
Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP	22%
Ex-European Commission officials Petite, Klotz and Kjølbye	14%
Commission official Fritz-Harald Wenig	14%

Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008Winners and runners-up

Voting Results:

The Awards

Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008
Winners and runners-up