Worst EU lobby awards
It is that time of the year again, the worst EU lobby awards vote has opened! I’m passing along the message verbatim below:
Worst EU Lobbying Award 2008 — Vote Now — www.worstlobby.eu
http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/home_en
Vote now for the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Awards — the annual award for deceptive, manipulative or unethical lobbying.
This year you can vote in two categories:
1. The ‘Worst EU Lobbying’ Award for the lobbyist, company or lobby group that in 2008 has employed the most deceptive, misleading, or otherwise problematic lobbying tactics in their attempts to influence EU decision-making.
2. The special ‘Worst Conflict of Interest’ Award for the MEP, Commissioner or Commission official whose background, side-jobs or other liaisons with special interests raise the most serious concerns about their ability to act in public interest.
Select your winners now in both categories and cast your vote at http://www.worstlobby.eu
The nominees for the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Award are:
* the Agrofuels lobby (MPOC, Unica and Abengoa) for greenwashing agrofuels;
* European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicine for hiding the involvement of big pharma;
* European Business and Parliament Scheme for EP indoors lobbying;
* Gplus and Aspect Consulting for spreading war propaganda;
* the airline lobby IATA for deceptions to avoid CO2 reduction obligations.
The nominees for the Worst Conflict of Interest Award are:
* Dr Caroline Jackson MEP – appointed advisor to a waste company;
* Piia-Noora Kauppi MEP – lobbies for her future employer;
* Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP – doubles as a lawyer;
* Ex-Commission officials Petite, Klotz and Kjølbye – now lobbying for industry;
* DG Trade Director Wenig – slips inside informations to lobbyists.
The candidates were selected out of 54 nominations by citizens and groups from around Europe after thorough scrutiny by the organisers. For more background on the individual candidates, check out http://www.worstlobby. The voting website is available in English, German and French.
Help us expose the worst lobbying in Brussels and cast your vote at http://www.worstlobby.eu
Please spread the news about the awards! Tell your friends via our website or put banners on your websites. Banners can be found here: http://www.foeeurope.org/corporates/banner/wla.html
Online voting closes November 30. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Brussels on December 9.
The Worst EU Lobbying Awards are organised by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch.
