Articles

Lobbying campaign by hedge funds not declared in Commission register

25.11.2009

According to eFinancialCareers "it emerged yesterday that the Alternative Investment Management Association is paying Finsbury €1m to lobby against the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers’ Directive."

Climate Business (documentary)

24.11.2009

When BusinessEurope gathered together the Brussels' business world to discuss climate change, protecting economic growth was high on the agenda. But not everyone attending the conference thought that the business community were the right people to come up with the solutions to the climate crisis. Watch what happened on CEO TV - and see what the business delegates are asking for.

Trailer:
Climate Business (trailer)

Full documentary (29 minutes in HD):

Voting Opens for Angry Mermaid Award

16.11.2009

Copenhagen / Brussels, Monday 16 November - The damaging impacts of corporate lobbying on international efforts to fight climate change are exposed today with the announcement of the eight candidates for the Angry Mermaid Award 2009.
The Angry Mermaid Award is named after the iconic Copenhagen mermaid who is angry about the destruction being caused by climate change

Cross-party MEP initiative demands genuine lobby transparency

11.11.2009

A new High Level Working Party of MEPs and Commission representatives starts talks tomorrow on a joint Commission-Parliament lobby disclosure register. Yesterday, more than 25 MEPs were represented (in person or by an assistant) at a seminar in the European Parliament on how to achieve real improvements in transparency around EU lobbying. The seminar is a follow-up to the pledge signed by more than 75 MEPs in the run-up to the European Parliament elections, committing to “to provide leadership in lobbying transparency and ethics”.

Commission's advisers on financial markets: bankers only?

09.11.2009

ALTER-EU's new report, 'A captive Commission – the role of the financial industry in shaping EU regulation' which was launched last week, shows that most of the so-called 'expert groups' advising the EU Commission on financial market regulation are dominated by industry lobbyists. More than 80% of the non-governmental 'experts' in these advisory groups represent big banks and investment funds.

Law firm supports mandatory transparency

05.11.2009

In response to the ALTER-EU press release posted on this website, law firm Alber & Geiger has pointed out to us that they are in favour of a mandatory lobby disclosure register, but that German federal law and Bar rules prevent German law firms from registering on a voluntary basis.

EU institutions

Financial industry shapes EU regulation

05.11.2009

The new ALTER-EU report 'A captive Commission - the role of the financial industry in shaping EU regulation' can be found at: http://www.alter-eu.org/en/system/files/publications/CaptiveCommission.pdf Brussels, November 5, 2009 - The vast majority of financial ‘experts’ advising the European Commission represent the banks and investors responsible for the global economic crisis, according to a new report published today by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER EU) [1].