Articles

The CEO/TNI conference “EU in crisis” felt like a reunion, even though many of the people were new. The atmosphere was the same as in 1997, during the activities around the Treaty of Amsterdam, where 50 000 people showed up for demonstrations supporting the Summit from Below. While there was already the beginning of a pan- European movement, who could foresee the European Social Forum, the protests in Prague, Gothenburg and Genoa, or the World Social Forum in 1997?

On 31 May the Irish people will take a stance on the Austerity Treaty, aka the Fiscal Compact, in a national referendum. As Ireland is the only country where the Treaty will be tested at a referendum, powerful players are pulling out the heavy artillery to prevent a ‘No’. As if aware that the Austerity Treaty has nothing good to offer, the only card up their sleeve is a high-pitched scare-mongering campaign. All kinds of threats are being used to force a Yes vote.

The first audit reports of soy companies certified by the Roundtable on Responsible Soya (RTRS) show a failure to achieve any social or environmental benefit, according to a new briefing published today ahead of the RTRS Annual Conference in London

The Roundtable on Responsible Soy launched its voluntary certification process in 2006, with the first certificates introduced in 2011. Audits of 10 of the companies certified have now been published online. This briefing by the GM Freeze, Friends of the Earth (England Wales and Northern Ireland) and Corporate Europe Observatory analyses the audits and finds they show little evidence of responsible soy production on the ground.

It is generally not a good idea to develop climate policy with the banks, whether its with a few of them or with them all. However, this was the essence of a debate which took place recently concerning a meeting scheduled between a high-level official from DG Clima and the carbon traders lobby, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). Peter Zapfel, a key man at the Commission responsible for the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the EU flagship climate policy, had scheduled a private briefing with IETA to discuss the Commission's planned measures to boost carbon prices.

Belén Balanyá (Spain/ The Netherlands)

In 1997 we founded Corporate Europe Observatory and we were warning of the dangers of corporate Europe, and of the links of EU institutions with big business. We looked at the dangers of the single market and the planned monetary union. But we were more naïve than now about the EU and its chances to be reformed. Now in 2012, the EU is showing its face and it is more clear than ever that it stands for the interests of a corporate elite, forcing a shock doctrine upon European societies.