Public asked to vote again for ‘worst EU lobbyists’

The European public was yesterday (13 October) invited to nominate the ‘worst EU lobbyist’ of 2010 in a contest that organisers hope will encourage policymakers to defend public rather than corporate interests. The ‘Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2010′, organised by Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory, LobbyControl and Spinwatch, seek to “clean up the lobbying scene in Brussels, discourage controversial lobbying practices by publicly exposing the worst offenders, and discredit the big business lobby among EU decision-making circles”. This year’s nominees were chosen for their attempts to influence EU financial regulation and climate change legislation, because “these two categories best show how EU policymaking has been captured by the corporate world,” according to Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe, who launched the awards at a ceremony in Brussels yesterday. “We’re not doing this because we’re anti-lobbyists. We’re lobbyists ourselves,” De Clerck admitted, perhaps mindful of the fact that the European Commission had been quick to point that out itself in previous years. Michael Mann, spokesperson for Commissioner Šefčovič, said “we recognise that lobbying is a legitimate part of the decision-making process and that’s why we want to make it as transparent as possible”. “The new joint Transparency Register with the Parliament will build on the enormous progress we have already made with our own Commission register,” Mann told EurActiv, adding …