Brussels Sunshine

Internal documents throw light on McCreevy and Kuneva industry jobs

20.12.2010

2010 saw high-profile controversy around the large number of ex-Commissioners who went through the revolving door in to lobbying jobs in industry. The year is now drawing to an end and we're still waiting for the promised new Code of Conduct for Commissioners.

New ethics rules must be Verheugen-proof

18.11.2010

On Thursday 18 November Barroso’s team of Commissioners will discuss a draft of the new Code of Conduct. Commissioner Sefcovic’s speech to MEPs ealier this month revealed some of the elements that are likely to be in the draft.

German company register shows Verheugen’s active role in European Experience Company and a clear conflict of interests

04.10.2010

McCreevy wants to cash in on financial de-regulation – will the Commission stop him?

28.09.2010

Last month former European Commissioner Charles McCreevy joined the board of NBNK Investments PLC, a new investment vehicle which according to media reports aims to “buy banking assets that are being sold off by banks for regulatory reasons”. McCreevy's salary will be between 61,000 and 122,000 euro per year depending on “NBNK achieving a major acquisition. McCreevy is also reported to hold 20,000 shares.”

Commission under fire over revolving doors scandals and ‘farewell bonuses’ – will it block Verheugen?

24.09.2010

After brewing for months, the controversy around the number of former Commissioners going through the revolving door into lobbying and lobby advisory jobs has finally boiled over. In the last few days, the six Commissioners that have moved into private sector jobs with potential conflicts of interest have been exposed in the press across Europe.

Ex-Commissioner Verheugen in revolving door scandal

02.09.2010

The German weekly WirtschaftsWoche earlier this week revealed that former Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen has set up his own EU lobby consultancy firm, the European Experience Company. Verheugen started the new firm in April 2010, just two months after he ended his term as Commissioner, but did not inform the Commission about this.

Financial lobbyists ‘educating’ MEPs?

02.09.2010

Both the MEPs and banking lobbyists that participate in the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF) claim that the EPFSF is not a lobby group but a “forum for discussion”.

MEPs ring alarm bells over financial industry’s excessive lobbying power

29.06.2010

Twenty two Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum launched a remarkable warning against the financial industry’s intensive lobbying efforts last week, warning that it “poses a danger to democracy”.

Food

High time for CIAA to come clean on its lobbying

23.06.2010

CIAA's €1-billion campaign to promote the GDA labelling system was clearly a key element in its political strategy to combat other, stricter labelling options which it feared would damage sales of unhealthy food, such as the 'traffic light' system.

Lobby register turns two - is there hope for transparency?

21.06.2010

A few days from now it will be two years since the European Commission launched its voluntary lobby register. The critique of the shortcomings of the register will be well known to readers of this blog.

Food

‘Hard-core’ lobbying: “voting recommendations” sent to MEPs on food labelling regulation

14.06.2010

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has collected more than twenty e-mails from industry lobbyists with “voting recommendations” for MEPs ahead of the ENVI committee vote, in March 2010, on the ‘Sommer report’ about the new EU regulation on food labelling.
Food

MEP Carl Schlyter: “Industry lobbying has buried ‘traffic-light’ labelling”

11.06.2010

In this interview with Corporate Europe Observatory, MEP Carl Schlyter, member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), reflects on one of the biggest lobbying battles in Brussels in recent years on food labelling regulation.
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