Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl, Spinwatch
13 December 2006
EXXONMOBIL AND DG INTERNAL MARKET WIN WORST EU LOBBY AWARDS 2006
ExxonMobil receives "Worst EU Lobbying" award and DG Internal Market wins the award for "Worst Privileged Access"
www.worstlobby.eu
Brussels, 13 December – ExxonMobil and DG Internal Market were left red-faced today when they topped the polls in the "Worst EU Lobby Awards 2006". The winners of the awards were publicly announced at a ceremony organised by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch [1].
In the "Worst EU Lobbying" category, ExxonMobil was the clear winner, gaining almost half of the votes cast. The oil giant continues to pay climate sceptics to manipulate the climate debate in Brussels, while keeping much of this funding away from public scrutiny.[2] In the category for the public official or institution that has granted the
"Worst Privileged Access", DG Internal Market got an even bigger share of the votes. This powerful European Commission department manipulated its stakeholder consultation process to legitimise its own controversial proposal for a single European patent system by marginalising critics from a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Over 9400 people took part in an online poll to decide the winners of the awards. [3]
"ExxonMobil have continued to fund climate sceptics despite heavy criticism both in Europe and the United States. ExxonMobil thereby intentionally creates an artificial dispute about human-made global warming to obstruct political measures aimed at reducing CO2 emissions." explained Ulrich Mueller from the Germany-based watchdog organisation LobbyControl. "Moreover, in Europe, where transparency
obligations are almost non-existent, it seems ExxonMobil still fails to disclose all those it funds. The impressive public response to the online poll shows that the public are worried by these kind of tactics".
The runners-up to ExxonMobil are PR firm Weber Shandwick for its orchestration of the Cancer United campaign on behalf of pharma giant Roche, and CEFIC for its misleading and aggressive lobbying strategies on REACH and against access to justice for environmental organisations on the implementation of the Aarhus agreement.
The runners-up to DG Internal Market in the "Worst Privileged Access" category are Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, for his far too cosy relationships with industry lobbyists such as the European Services Forum, and Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Verheugen, for his role in setting up unbalanced high level groups dominated by large corporations, such as the High Level Group on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment.
Paul De Clerck, Friends of the Earth Europe said "The extent of online participation in the Worst EU Lobby Awards underlines the public’s concern about these issues. The European Commission and other EU institutions must take firm action to tackle the problem of privileged access and curb the excessive influence that big business
enjoys in Brussels."
Owen Espley of Corporate Europe Observatory criticised the Commission’s proposals for a new voluntary EU lobbying transparency register: "The Commission must act to prevent the use of deceptive lobbying practices. Transparency around funding sources should become an obligation for all lobbyists seeking to influence EU decisions."
Corporate Europe Observatory,Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch are campaigning for an end to secrecy around lobbying in Brussels.[4]
For more information / interviews, please contact:
Owen Espley, Corporate Europe Observatory: Mob: +31647576743;
[email protected]
Paul De Clerck, Friends of the Earth Europe, Tel: +32 494380959;
[email protected]
Ulrich Mueller, LobbyControl: Mob: +49-170 3110089, [email protected]
William Dinan, Spinwatch +44 (0) 141 548 2699, [email protected]
http://www.worstlobby.eu
Notes to Editors
1) The awards ceremony will be held at 7pm, December 13th, 2006 at the Music Village, Rue des Pierres 50, Brussels. Doors will open at 6:30pm, the awards ‘ceremony’ starts at 19.00 o’clock and will take approximately an hour.
2) Further information about ExxonMobil’s funding of climate sceptics is available at:
http://www.corporateeurope.org/ThinkTankSurvey2006.html
3) The nominees and their votes were as follows:
Worst Lobby Category: ExxonMobil 4080 votes (47%); PR firm Weber Shandwick 1481 votes (17%); European Chemical Industry Council – (CEFIC) 1450 votes (17%); David Earnshaw 1347 votes (15%); Sky and Space Intergroup 368 votes (4%) .
Worst Privileged Access Category: DG Internal Market 4936 votes (52%); Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson 1334 votes (14%); Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Verheugen 1251 votes (13%); the Austrian and Finnish EU Presidencies 978 votes (10%); Commissioners Verheugen and Spidla 913 votes (10%).
In total 18138 votes were cast in both categories. During the online poll, the site received over 27145 visitors.
Further information on each of the nominees is available on the website www.worstlobby.eu with links to more detailed information.
4) Over 15,000 lobbyists roam the corridors of power in Brussels. Two-thirds or more of these represent corporate interests. The total amount spent on corporate lobbying has been estimated to be up to a billion euros per year.
Whereas different systems of mandatory lobbying disclosure exist in the US and Canada, as well as in new EU member states like Lithuania and Poland, EU lobbyists in Brussels face no such obligations. In January, the European Commission will present its plans for a EU lobbyist register as part of the European Transparency Initiative. It is likely that signing up to the register will remain voluntary.
Experience from voluntary registers elsewhere demonstrates that they fail to deliver transparency about all but a minority of lobbyists who choose to register.
ENDS