About the ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award 2005

What’s wrong with European lobbying?

EU decision making is increasingly dominated by the economic and political power of corporations. As part of that development, controversial lobbying practices are becoming more and more common in Brussels. Examples include greenwash and double standards (lobbying against environmental initiatives while pretending to care about sustainability) and various other forms of deceptive lobbying (such as pseudo-NGOs and think tanks advocating industry positions in return for funding).

Why this award?

As controversial lobbying practices are spreading in Brussels, we want to throw light on those practices and the organisations and corporations that use them. Naming and shaming is one way to discourage such practices. But learly there is a need to establish boundaries and rules for European lobbying. Therefore, we support the creation of mandatory disclosure rules: lobbyist should need to tell the public who they are working for, what budget they are using and which policies they want to influence.

For more information on how the organisors of the award believe lobbying should be made more transparent: www.alter-eu.org

How have the candidates for the award been nominated?

In 2005, the selection of nominees was made by the organisers based on their research and investigations of European lobby efforts throughout the year as well as media reports and other publications. In 2006, we plan a more elaborate nomination proces allowing a broad range of stakeholders and experts to suggest their own nominations.

Who are the organisers of the award?

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is an Amsterdam-based research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.

Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and just societies and for the protection of the environment, unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups and is part of the world’s largest  grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.

LobbyControl is a new German civil society initiative that provides information on lobbying, PR campaigns and think tanks and promotes transparency and democracy.

SpinWatch exists to provide public interest research and reporting on corporate and government public relations and propaganda. We aim to foster greater public and political awareness of spin and to campaign against the manipulations of the PR industry in the public interest.