Corporate Europe Observatory

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) challenges the influence of Big Business and corporate lobby groups in EU policy-making.

Website: https://corporateeurope.org/en
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/corporateeurope.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corporateeurope/
LobbyFacts: https://www.LobbyFacts.eu

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NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

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nprofile1qqsz5txpl3zy5a2fa4szs6jmrke09y62jmudu3sdj8ncfauz55xl8wcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsgrh92t

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npub19gkvrlzyff65nmtq9p49k8dj72f549hcmerqmy08snmc9fgd7wasltxllu

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Last Notes

2026-05-12 07:03:27 GMT

🚨 NEW REPORT: EU handing industry #Permission2Pollute 🚨
At the request of oil&gas, mining + BigTech lobbyists, the Commission is ripping up permitting rules to fast-track polluting projects like pipelines, mines + data centres.
Read more https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/05/permission-pollute 👇
🧵 1/6

2026-04-17 06:54:40 GMT

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The AI infrastructure boom is putting immense pressure on energy and water supplies, and threatens the EU’s climate goals.
In the face of growing resistance, Big Tech has successfully lobbied the EU to keep information on individual data centres secret in little noticed Delegated Act.
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/116/418/729/557/330/868/original/f6485ecb3336ad53.png
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2026-04-17 06:53:16 GMT

🚨BREAKING
New research together with @npub1rq7…2kth shows how the European Commission has copy-pasted a Microsoft amendment.
The amendment will keep key information on energy-guzzling data centres hidden.
👏 Investigate Europe for covering
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/04/copy-paste-govern

2026-03-03 09:35:50 GMT

Corporate lobbyists in Brussels have a playbook.
4 tactics they use to shape EU laws without us noticing:
1️⃣ Repeat until it sounds like consensus
2️⃣ Throw money at it
3️⃣ Blur the lines between regulator and regulated
4️⃣ Delay, distract, greenwash
The more we know it, the less we fall for it!
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/116/164/556/638/640/126/original/1fd210bad143b331.mp4

2026-02-25 16:02:43 GMT

🎂 For the 1st birthday of the Clean Industrial Deal (CID) 🎂
CEO exposes how dirty industry lobbyists have outgunned civil society in gaining access to the European Commission and influencing this #DirtyIndustrialDeal.
Thread with key findings 🧵
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/clean-industrial-deal-year-dirty-lobbying

2026-02-11 08:23:37 GMT

Revealed: industry’s lobby blitz to undermine chemicals policy reform.
See our brand new analysis of the #REACH chemicals regulation lobby battle in Brussels
In 2025 industry dominated access to the European Commission's highest levels on the topic of REACH.
Industry had 93 high level meetings with Commissioners and Cabinets on REACH; NGOs, only 19
👉 https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/reaching-out
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2026-02-10 09:11:25 GMT

Big Tech spent €151 million lobbying the EU last year.
That’s 890 lobbyists — more than elected MEPs.
Now key digital rights like GDPR and the AI Act are being quietly rolled back.
We looked at who’s really influencing EU tech rules — and what’s happening behind closed doors. 👇
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/116/045/553/055/715/055/original/6d4112a53b347e41.mp4

2026-02-05 10:12:58 GMT

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The EU Commission is preparing a Digital Fairness Act with measures against addictive design of social media 👏
Our new investigation reveals intense #lobbying by Big Tech to block such measures 🚨
Will EU decision-makers stand up against Big Tech lobbying?
#DFA
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/addicted-algorithm-how-big-tech-lobbies-keep-us-hooked-social-media

2026-02-05 10:12:07 GMT

🤳 Open phone for one thing. 1h later, you remember it again, after feeling your brain melted by doomscrolling and brainrot.
That’s not a personal failure — it’s by design. The EU wants to curb it. Big Tech is #lobbying hard to keep you hooked.
👀 our new report 👇
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2026/02/addicted-algorithm-how-big-tech-lobbies-keep-us-hooked-social-media
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2026-01-22 12:02:07 GMT

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We need #RulestoProtect not #Deregulation.
🇪🇺 Commission needs to stop doing bidding of big business & get back to regulating in public interest.
If you support our work to challenge this agenda, get our newsletter: https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/newsletter
Thanks again to Ralph Underhill!
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2026-01-22 11:06:44 GMT

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And the 🇪🇺 Commission looks set to continue its turbo-charged #deregulation agenda.
There are rumours of more omnibuses, while other much-needed rules in the pipeline now look as it they will be substantially weakened, for example on #PFAS or #REACH reform .
https://www.euobserver.com/health-and-society/ar4545905d
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2026-01-22 11:04:39 GMT

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There have also been numerous so-called “reality checks” which feed into the #deregulation #Omnibus process.
But these 🇪🇺 Commission “reality checks” are pseudo consultations, dominated by industry, and operating on ridiculously short timelines.
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/07/crash-course-eus-deregulation-wave
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2026-01-22 11:03:16 GMT

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The #deregulation chainsaw is being wielded in several ways
10 omnibuses (so far) have been announced by 🇪🇺 Commission
🌍 Sustainability
🧪 Chemicals
🐝 Pesticides
🌐 Digital
🚜 Agri
💥 Defence
🏭 Pollution
These rules are under attack
See #Omnibus :
tracker:
https://cloud.corporateeurope.org/s/RjrwKPiTmmZM5BG?dir=/&editing=false&openfile=true
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/115/938/412/062/108/331/original/e54acdbdf523d609.png

2026-01-22 11:02:02 GMT

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The 🇪🇺 Commission & industry both like to talk about “simplification” of EU laws. Other favourite phrases include “streamlining” or “cutting red tape”.
But let’s be clear: it’s cutting social, green, & digital protections.
See more at #Deregulation
Watch: https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/deregulation-watch
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2026-01-22 11:00:28 GMT

The 🇪🇺 Commission is taking a political chainsaw to hard won social, environmental, and digital protections.
We need #RulestoProtect not #Deregulation.
Check out our new cartoons below by Ralph Underhill and spread the word!
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2026-01-14 08:54:25 GMT

🎁 Just before the holidays, the European Commission granted Big Tech its Christmas wish-list: an unprecedented attack on our digital rights.
Together with LobbyControl, we analysed the proposed Digital Omnibus and mapped how closely it aligns with Big Tech’s lobbying demands. The result is alarming: what’s being framed as “cutting red tape” is actually about cutting rights.
👉 https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2026/01/article-article-how-big-tech-shaped-eus-roll-back-digital-rights
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2025-12-02 10:53:18 GMT

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✍🏽 Sign our petition asking EU politicians to:
1️⃣ Scrap green hydrogen import targets & phase out fossil fuels
2️⃣ End public subsidies for green hydrogen import infrastructure
3️⃣ Support countries in the Global South with their own just transitions
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/gh2-petition

2025-12-02 10:52:34 GMT

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🛑 The EU plans to import vast quantities of green hydrogen from South Africa. But indigenous and marginalised communities have barely been consulted on hydrogen production projects that can radically affect their health and livelihoods.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/115/649/593/365/960/726/original/5aaa07889cc6e346.mp4

2025-12-02 10:50:15 GMT

🚨 Happening tomorrow!
Don’t miss the Global screening of our film “The Scramble for Hydrogen in South Africa” featuring the voices of affected communities in South Africa that are being ignored by EU leaders.
📅 When: 3 Dec, 19h00 CET
📍 Where: Online on Zoom
Register: corporateeurope.org/en/event/5
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2025-11-19 15:28:18 GMT

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✊ Together with more than 120 civil society organisations we are calling on the EU stop these shortsighted and harmful proposals.
Time to listen to European citizens, not to Big Tech CEOs, right, @npub1w4r…8cxz ?
https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-EU-must-uphold-hard-won-protections-for-digital-human-rights.pdf

2025-11-19 15:27:52 GMT

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The consequences are clear. The digital omnibus reads as a Big Tech wishlist:
❌ The AI Act will be paused
❌ AI companies will be able to train their systems with personal data without consent
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/11/preparing-roll-back-digital-rights-commissions-secretive-meetings-industry

2025-11-19 15:27:19 GMT

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The Commission’s deregulation agenda has opened the door to Big Tech lobbying.
🫂 During a tour in Silicon Valley, EU Commissioner Virkkunen promised Big Tech CEOs to ‘simplify’ EU rules.
🧐In so-called Reality Checks, secretive meetings exempted from transparency rules, the Commission has almost exclusively gathered input from industry.
Out of a total of 138 invitees, 114 represented corporate interests.
We have filed an Ombudsman complaint against this biased consultation process.

2025-11-19 15:26:51 GMT

🪚 The digital omnibus proposed by the Commission today is an unprecedented rollback of digital rights.
In secretive meetings, the Commission has given privileged access to tech lobbyists to shape its proposals.
👉 https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/11/preparing-roll-back-digital-rights-commissions-secretive-meetings-industry

2025-10-29 10:43:19 GMT

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🪚The EU Commission is aggressively cutting any rules that stand in the way of corporate profits.
This is the political opportunity that Big Tech has been waiting for.
✊ It is time to fight back against the Commission's chainsaw politics and rein in Big Tech.
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/deregulation-watch

2025-10-29 10:42:57 GMT

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⚠️In the face of aggressive tech lobbying, the Commission will water down the AI Act in the upcoming digital omnibus.
But while the Commission has done ‘reality checks’ with industry, it fails to listen to the reality of people targeted by biased and unfair AI systems.
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/big-tech-lobby-budgets-hit-record-levels

2025-10-29 10:41:53 GMT

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From lobby firms to front groups, think tanks, and consultancies, financing third-parties is a keystone of Big Tech’s lobby playbook.
👥 Big Tech spends €9 million per year on lobby consultancies
🔊 Big Tech is funding an increasing number of think tanks to amplify its narratives
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/115/457/031/828/308/464/original/4da5153ebc67038b.jpg

2025-10-29 10:41:21 GMT

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🫂 In the first half of 2025, Big Tech held 378 meetings with the EU Commission officials and MEPs.
That's an average of 3 meetings per working day between Big Tech and EU policymakers.
These numbers show Big Tech's sheer muscle power and access to the EU institutions.

2025-10-29 08:34:04 GMT

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📈 The tech industry's lobby spending has increased with 55,6 percent in just four years.
💸 A large chunk of that money is concentrated with Big Tech with Meta spending an astronomical €10.000.000 on lobbying the EU.
The tech industry spends more than any other corporate sector.
📊 The top 10 digital companies spend three times more than the top 10 companies in the pharmaceutical, financial and automotive industries combined.
@npub16ux…q37k
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/115/456/529/601/508/368/original/59091cd085d879c8.jpg

2025-10-29 08:33:04 GMT

📢 As the EU's deregulation agenda rolls out the red carpet for corporate interests, our new study with @npub16ux…q37k shows that the tech industry has ramped up its lobby power:
💰 Lobby spending hits a record €151 million
🕴 Almost 900 tech lobbyists
🤝 Big Tech has lobby 3 meetings a day
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/big-tech-lobby-budgets-hit-record-levels
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/115/456/524/271/360/372/original/90b71c58010a1019.jpg

2025-09-10 15:58:04 GMT

🌊The EU Commission’s deregulation wave means attacks on labour rights, climate policies, nature protection & public health. If you want to know more, join us on a free lobby tour Sept 17 at 5h30pm!
Sign in at: [email protected] (until Tuesday 16 September EOD)
Duration of the tour: 1.5 hours
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2025-09-08 12:52:46 GMT

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There's a serious risk that the EU's forthcoming #28thRegime will result in a downwards spiral in workers’ rights and corporate tax payments
It's high time for public debate and political pressure on EU decision-makers!
#Deregulation #RulesToProtect
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/social-dumping-disaster-eus-28th-regime
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2025-09-08 12:50:36 GMT

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The most visible players #lobbying for the 28th Regime are start-ups and venture capital investors, but in the background big business lobby groups are eagerly promoting it too
Read our new article on the #28thRegime , who’s behind it and what’s at stake
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/social-dumping-disaster-eus-28th-regime
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2025-09-08 12:49:35 GMT

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Trade unions have compared the #28thRegime with the Bolkestein Directive and its 'country of origin' principle which was defeated after Europe-wide protests in the early 2000s
Will the European Commission bring back #bolkestein
#Deregulation #RulesToProtect
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/social-dumping-disaster-eus-28th-regime
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2025-09-08 12:48:34 GMT

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The @npub1gwe…xpje has warned that the #28thRegime could result in a two-tier labour market and a race to the bottom in social rights
There’s also a serious risk the 28th Regime will sooner or later become available not just to start-ups but to all companies across the board
#Deregulation #RulesToProtect
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/social-dumping-disaster-eus-28th-regime
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2025-09-08 12:46:51 GMT

⚠️ Corporate lobby groups are promoting a radical plan to create an EU-level ‘28th regime’ of parallel, weaker rules for start-ups and ‘innovative’ companies
This could enable social dumping and trigger a race to the bottom for social rights
#Deregulation #rulestoprotect
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/09/social-dumping-disaster-eus-28th-regime

2025-04-01 11:54:40 GMT

It’s famous for its anti-tax stance.
It has Apple and Microsoft on its board.
Its top funder is a key funder of the Trump camp.
It has boosted its EU lobbying and is being received with open arms by the Commission.
Want to know more? Don't expect much from the EU's register.
Read our profile of the opaque Tax Foundation 👉 https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/04/opaque-us-anti-tax-foundation-advise-eu-commission

2025-01-29 15:12:16 GMT

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"By embracing questionable corporate lobby framing around ‘over-regulation’, the EU risks losing its moral and regulatory compass, giving industry lobby groups far-reaching new powers to erode social and environmental safeguards that stand in their way."
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/01/deregulation-watch
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2025-01-29 15:10:56 GMT

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The Competitiveness Compass will result in unprecedented levels of corporate influence 🚨
Take the ‘Implementation Dialogues’, which each of the 27 Commissioners will hold twice yearly “to hear business concerns” & identify “burden reductions”; that's another 54 corporate lobbying events per year 🤯

2025-01-29 15:10:37 GMT

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With the Competitiveness Compass, it is becoming crystal clear that what the Commission refers to as ‘simplification’ is in fact about #deregulation 🚨
Compared to previous announcements by the VDL Commission, wording on “maintaining high standards” is now practically absent - that's deeply worrying

2025-01-29 15:09:49 GMT

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With the Competitiveness Compass, the Commission has tragically bought into the unjustified negative view of regulation promoted by corporate lobbies
Biased 'competitiveness' checks on new initiatives & inviting corporate lobby groups to roll back rules they dislike? This will harm Europe's economy

2025-01-29 15:09:30 GMT

The 'Competitiveness Compass' launched today confirms that the Von der Leyen Commission is embarking on far-reaching #deregulation 👎
We're launching ‘Deregulation Watch’ to monitor the EU deregulation wave and its threats to social and environmental standards
https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2025/01/deregulation-watch

2025-01-09 07:47:47 GMT

🚨New report
📝 Behind closed doors, Big Tech is writing the standards that will govern their own AI systems
❌ The EU should not outsource public policy-making on fundamental rights to private bodies
👉 https://corporateeurope.org/en/2025/01/bias-baked
🧵
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/113/797/289/456/574/931/original/b4c13fe86f11dbbd.mp4

2024-11-18 14:32:30 GMT

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Greece 🇬🇷 + Italy 🇮🇹 brought the most fossil fuel lobbyists into #COP29 :
🇬🇷24
🇮🇹22
Mainly from gas companies. No surprise as 🇬🇷+🇮🇹are the biggest buyers of Azeri gas via the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) mega-pipeline, which the EU is pushing to expand.
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/11/cop29-hycoprisy-0
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2024-11-18 14:28:45 GMT

EU governments brought at least 113 fossil fuel lobbyists to #COP29 according to analysis from #KickBigPollutersOut and #FossilFreePolitics . Many were there to do gas deals.
🧵Thread 👇
#FossilFreePolitics
#KickBigPollutersOut
https://fossilfreepolitics.org/news/europe-brings-gas-lobbyists-to-cop29-to-strike-deals/
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2024-11-15 11:02:33 GMT

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🌍 That's why #KickBigPollutersOut - a coalition of over 450 organisations - is demanding that @UNFCCC and world governments stop fossil fuel interests from undermining climate action at #COP29.
Join our campaign: https://kickbigpollutersout.org/COP29FossilFuelLobbyists
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2024-11-15 08:37:28 GMT

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🤑 It seems straighforward that big polluters shouldn't be allowed to write the rules of climate action or use COP partnerships to cover up their role in fuelling the climate crisis.
More info: https://kickbigpollutersout.org/COP29FossilFuelLobbyists
#kickbigpollutersout
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2024-11-15 08:05:47 GMT

🚨 Breaking!
🕴️Today we uncover that there are more than 1770 fossil fuel lobbyists are attending #COP29 - more than delegates from all climate vulnerable nations combined.
Read all about it here: https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/11/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-eclipse-delegations-most-climate-vulnerable-nations-cop29-climate
#kickbigpollutersout
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2024-11-12 14:23:26 GMT

🤯 What HyCOPrisy!
Our new investigation shows how the EU is using #COP29 to greenwash Azerbaijan’s gas as sustainable - so it can pretend to be a climate leader while doubling its gas imports from the country.
🧵A thread on the key findings
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/11/cop29-hycoprisy-0
🔎 docs show the EU persuaded Azerbaijan + its oil co. SOCAR to join its voluntary Global Methane Pledge, offering to co-organise prestigious high-level events with them so they could tell their “great energy story”

2024-11-12 09:45:11 GMT

Big Tech has been making use of an extremely insidious and shady lobby tactic: the use of front groups.
Find out more about our most recent report with @npub1up6…2wy4 and @npub16ux…q37k in the video and read all about it here:
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/10/uncovering-big-techs-hidden-network
https://media.mstdn.social/media_attachments/files/113/469/337/608/246/550/original/1e29e3538310965a.mp4

2024-10-29 09:38:18 GMT

🔎 Big Tech has built a massive network of lawyers and lobbyists to skew debate in its favour.
🚨 Now new research by @npub19gk…xllu @npub16ux…q37k @npub1up6…2wy4 shows how 21% of registrants of the public #DMA workshops had close and undisclosed ties with Big Tech.
👉 https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/10/uncovering-big-techs-hidden-network

2024-09-23 11:40:16 GMT

🚨 New profile on agrochemical giant #Bayer 🚨
💸 Bayer is a lobby topspender in the EU and globally.
🆘 Bayer’s products are not only bad for our health and environment but also democracy
👉 Read all about it here: https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/09/bayers-toxic-trails

2024-09-16 14:26:03 GMT

Analisis of the plans for the next Commission: when corporate lobby groups define the strategy under the slogan of ‘competitiveness’, it is a wake-up call. Environmental policies, climate measures, social justice, and even democracy are in the firing line.
Read all about it here: https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/09/competitiveness-inside-troubling-corporate-blueprint-coming-commission

2024-09-09 14:18:37 GMT

Worst fears confirmed with #draghireport on the next years priorities in the EU. What von der Leyen left vague is concretised.
Key proposals will lead to a tighter corporate stranglehold over EU rules.
🧵Here are 4 examples:👇
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2024-09-09 07:34:13 GMT

🌾 While most people were sunbathing, the merger between two Big Agri giants Bunge and Viterra received a green light from the European Commission.
🌱 This deal is unprecedented in size within the global agriculture sector and will result in further accelerated concentration in markets where economic power is already very concentrated, questioning EU's capacity to be sovereign in food systems.
Read the Op Ed by Hans van Scharen and @npub1up6…2wy4 's Irene Keizer in EUobserver
https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/09/new-agri-mega-merger-where-are-political-rightwingers-when-farmers-need-them