The Worst EU Lobbying and Greenwash Awards 2007

Thousands of corporate lobbyists roam the corridors of power in Brussels. Operating out of the spotlights, many of them do not hesitate to employ problematic methods, like pretending to be concerned environmentalists, buying science, secretly funding anarcho-capitalist think-tanks, or securing privileged access by EU bodies. As lobbying veteran Daniel Guéguen predicted a few years ago: “in the future […] we will tend to adopt ever tougher lobbying strategies […] that will probably involve practices such as manipulation, destabilisation or disinformation.”

Naming and shaming is one way to discourage such controversial lobbying practices, and this is the raison d’être for the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Awards. The awards also show the need for strong EU lobbying transparency and ethics rules. EU citizens have the right to know who is lobbying the EU institutions, who they represent, what budget they have at their disposal and which policies they try to influence.

About the Awards

The ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award is to be given to the lobbyist, company or lobby group that in 2007 has employed the most deceptive, misleading, or otherwise problematic lobbying tactics in their attempts to influence EU decision-making. This year’s event also includes a special ‘Worst EU Greenwash’ Award for the company whose advertising, PR and lobbying lingo is most at odds with the real environmental impacts of their core business activities.

In 2006 the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award was won by oil giant ExxonMobil for its secretive funding of climate-skeptic think tanks. In 2005 the prize went to the bogus Campaign for Creativity, a front group used by large IT companies to lobby for software patents and intellectual property rights.

• ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award 2006 archive
• ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award 2005 archive

The Award organizers

The Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2007 were organized by

• Corporate Europe Observatory
• Friends of the Earth Europe
• LobbyControl
• Spinwatch

Timeline

Tuesday 7 August 2007
Open for nominations

Saturday 15 September 2007
Nominations close

Monday 15 October 2007
Start of internet voting

Tuesday 27 November 2007
Voting closed

Tuesday 4 December 2007
Worst EU Lobbying Awards ceremony

Shortlist

More than 40 nominations were proposed by citizens and groups from around Europe; after thorough scrutiny by the organisers, the five worst cases in each category were presented on this website for public voting.

Voting

Web voting started on 15 October 2007 and the polls closed on 27 November 2007.