Folgen
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In a milestone win for civil society, the EU will withdraw from the climate-wrecking Energy Charter Treaty (or ECT). The ECT was designed in the 1990s to favour industry’s interests, and was a powerful weapon to obstruct the kind of phaseout of fossil fuels needed to avoid catastrophic climate change. It should never have existed in the first place.
In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, Joana Louçã talks to Pia Eberhardt, former campaigner and researcher at CEO, and Lucía Bárcena, Project Coordinator at the Transnational Institute, or TNI, to celebrate the decision of the EU to finally leave the Energy Charter Treaty.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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For the first time in seventeen years, the European Gas Conference was cancelled—or, at least, postponed. However, this did not stop CEO from travelling all the way to Vienna to meet with climate activists and campaigners at the People’s Summit, the counter-summit of the Gas Conference.
This episode was recorded live in the capital city of Austria. Marcella Via spoke with CEO’s researchers and campaigners Pascoe Sabido and Belén Balayá about their views on the People’s Summit and the relevance of the work of the Fossil Free Politics coalition in this framework.
You will also hear the voices of the front line. During the People’s Summit, we’ve asked our allies from Corpus Christi, Texas, and Don’t Gas Africa to send a message to the organisers of the European Gas Conference. We closed the episode sending our special message to the polluters as well.
Tune in, and enjoy the listening!
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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Fehlende Folgen?
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Amazon is a frequent visitor to the EU Parliament. In January alone, it had nine meetings with MEPs. But when it refused to appear before the Employment Committee on a hearing on crucial issues concerning working conditions within its warehouses, it made MEPs from all party groups extremelly angry, and rightly so.
On 5 February, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Employment Committee sent an official letter to Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament President, urging the withdrawal of lobbying badges from the tech giant’s representatives, effectively barring them from the Parliament's corridors. This week, more than 30 civil society groups and trade unions wrote to her backing up the MEPs' demand. It's time to ban Amazon lobbyists from the European Parliament.
In this episode, Joana Louçã talks to CEO's campaigner and researcher Bram Vranken about this case.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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Another year, another COP. As the UN climate talks concluded in Dubai, for the first time ever a “transition away from fossil fuels” has been mentioned in the final text, but calling for a win would be a clear overstatement. The text has the oily fingerprints of the fossil fuel lobby all over it. The reality is COP28 is more likely to facilitate a fossil fuel frenzy by cementing false solutions in the text: exactly what the army of lobbyists ordered.
Listen to our new podcast episode of EU Watchdog Radio, where Joana Louçã talks to CEO's climate campaigner and researcher Pascoe Sabido.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
It's one year since the Qatargate corruption scandal exploded across the EU institutions and a good time to review if and how things have changed in the Brussels Bubble. In this episode, Joana Louçã talks to Corporate Europe Observatory's researchers Olivier Hoedeman and Vicky Cann.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
As the European Commission’s current mandate draws to a close, some Commissioner’s are contemplating their next moves. One such politician is current Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is campaigning to become the next president of the European Investment Bank (EIB). She is one of five potential candidates who will take over from current EIB president Werner Hoyer at the end of this year, with the successor to be chosen in the coming months.
The EIB is the largest multilateral development bank in the world, and plays a crucial role in the various investment programmes being implemented by the EU. However, it prioritises financing large companies and huge private banks for environmental and social quick fixes rather than projects which would instigate long lasting social and environmental improvements in Europe.
This is happening at a time when European social fabric and the EU’s political legitimacy is eroding. Recent riots in France have demonstrated what can happen when entire communities, combined with racism and police brutality, are structurally deprived of their basic human needs.
In episode 46 of EU Watchdog Radio, we speak with Frank Vanaerachot, Director of EU public finance watchdog Counter Balance. Frank explains how the EIB could help build quality, affordable housing, healthcare, education and other public services across Europe, how the bank may not be living up to its self-created ‘EU Climate Bank’ branding and how it can take more risks to finance socially beneficial projects. -
In this new episode of EU Watchdog Radio Hans van Scharen talks to UN rapporteur on the right to Food Michael Fakhri and Political scientist Yiorgos Vassalos. They discuss rising food prices and hunger, the link with financial markets and the lack of political will to curb the influence of financial speculation with food commodities, which contribute to excessive food prices and thus hunger.
This podcast is a follow-up of episode 43 in which Fakhri explained how hunger is not an issue of sufficient production but of bad policies and political failure. An example of this is food speculation which could be curbed by policy measures, but is not.
In this episode Fakhri explains the role of international markets, where opaque trading in financial products is linked to for example energy and food commodities and price hikes. This trading in financial products often has nothing to do with the real world of food, but has a deep impact on the lives of real people.
Fakhri points out that the huge price increases of food after the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent calls by right wing politicians and agrobusiness to stop the Green Deal, had nothing to do with shortage of grain, as Ukraine stands for ‘only’ one percent of global production; But soon after the start of the war, global prices rose with 70%. For countries and societies such huge price hikes automatically mean hunger.
The United Nations just published an alarming report, revealing catastrophic hunger numbers in 2022: 735 million people face chronic undernourishment, one third of humanity lives in moderate or severe food insecurity, a healthy diet is now unaffordable for almost half the world’s population, there are 122 million more people hungry now than pre-Covid.
The existing European legislation called ‘Markets in Financial Instruments Directive’ (MiFiD) could have tamed ‘casino capitalism’ and curbed food speculation, but the reforms delivered very little…
Political scientists Yiorgos Vasalos researched for years the power of the financial sector and showed how the political will (which did exist 15 years ago) for reforming EU regulation to tame wild financial markets -which created the almost meltdown of the worlds financial system in 2008 - has slowly but surely evaporated during the past decade.
Just a few weeks ago there was an EU agreement on the latest reform of MiFiD. But after months of intense negotiations between the 3 EU institutions , unfortunately for the world’s hungry, this reform again will deliver nothing to stop food speculation. Several policy aspects that could be effective to limit excessive food speculation, will be reviewed only in 2024 and 2025…
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
In this new episode of the podcast EU Watchdog Radio, Joana Louçã talks to economist and trade unionist Frank Ey, and to Olivier Hoedeman and Moritz Neujeffski, co-authors of CEO's latest report: 30 Years of EU Single Market: Time to remove the obstacles to social-ecological transformation.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the creation of EU's Single Market, and to mark it, we have just launched a new report (and a board game!) showing how corporate interests have used Single Market rules to obstruct progressive social and environmental policies and regulations that might harm their profits.We have invited the co-authors of the report Olivier Hoedeman and Moritz Neujeffski, as well as Frank Ey, who works at the EU & International Department of the Austrian Chamber of Labour and is a lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, to talk about the report and discuss its key findings.
If the European Union is to protect public services and take the climate crisis seriously, it will need to turn its back on neoliberalism and take steps to modernise Single Market governance so that the national and local measures needed for a just ecological transition are safeguarded. Listen to our podcast to find out what measures we suggest should be taken.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
This is the 43d episode of EU Watchdog Radio where we talk all things food security, food systems and the (often political) violence that is omni-present around the world when it comes to one of our basic needs: food.
It ‘s an important year for the global food security debate and the current heated EU political debate on this topic is not looking very promising. The biggest political family EPP declared officially that they want to end all greening policies for agriculture and basically all policies that protect or improve biodiversity. Now even president Macron, Ursula von der Leyen and Belgian prime minister Decroo defend this position as well. A position that was carefully prepared by powerful agrochemical corporations and their lobby agents. The main and very fake argument they use since the war in Ukraine started: we need to boost food production.
To find out more about the issue of food security we talk to Special UN Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, who based in the US. Fakhri presented his report on Conflict and the right to Food to the Human Rights Council of UN General Assembly this Spring.
In that report, he gives an account of how different forms of violence in food systems harm people and generate the conditions that lead to human rights violations, like hunger. According to Fakhri food systems not only produce food but also amplify and produce violence that makes people more poor, vulnerable and marginalized. He repeats that “hunger and food insecurity always are a result of political failure” not an issue of production.
Fakhri also talks about the increasing wealth and power of food-sector billionaires, and the alarming trend of global corporations taking over UN policy processes. During today’s food crisis, transnational corporations in the agrifood sector are profiteering while people struggle and suffer as life gets harder.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
Corporate Europe Observatory's researcher Kat Ainger, Olivier Hoedeman and Hans van Scharen talk about the corruption scandal and its’ consequences.
This is the 42nd episode of EU Watchdog Radio where we talk all things Qatargate. What the EPP is plotting against civil society, what the problems are with the current EU transparency register and what better examples are used in other countries.
CEO has for almost a decade now been looking into human rights abusers hiring consultants and repressive regimes lobbying the EU using think tanks, front groups, and third party consultants, and we discuss some of the more scandalous case studies we have discovered in the past.
Full lobby transparency isn’t a magic wand, but it does help us to understand what the people employing these lobbyists want, who they are influencing, who they are employing, how much they are paying, who they are targeting, what their issues are. That scrutiny is essential to tackle corporate capture.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
In our brand new episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we talk to MEP Paul Tang and to CEO’s Bram Vranken about the new website LobbyLeaks.eu.
Welcome to the 41st episode of EU Watchdog Radio where we talk with Dutch MEP Paul Tang and to CEO’s Big Tech researcher Bram Vranken on the website LobbyLeaks.eu.
LobbyLeaks.eu has just been launched by CEO and Lobby Control, with the support of several cross-party MEPs and it is a new hotline for anonymous tip-offs about lobbying, specifically focused on issues around Big Tech.
Through LobbyLeaks.eu we expect to expose lobbying campaigns and tactics which either breach the EU transparency’s register code of conduct, or are considered to be an unregulated form of lobbying. There is a guarantee of complete anonymity for all tip-offs.
WHO WE ARE
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen! -
The EU Global Gateway has been pitched as the EU’s response to the economic, climate and energy crises engulfing the planet. Yet over a year after the European Commission launched the Gateway, it is still shrouded in secrecy. It is unclear if any new money is actually being made available for international development through the Gateway, or whether the strategy is mainly a PR exercise. Worse still, the Gateway may serve as an excuse to transfer development resources over to the private sector, or using development funds to further Europe’s geopolitical goals rather than fight poverty.
On this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we speak with Farwa Sial from the European Network on Debt and Development about the flaws of the Gateway strategy and how they can be rectified. We also speak with a representative from a community in Nepal who have been adversely affected by an infrastructure project financed by the European Investment Bank - one of the institutions responsible for rolling out the Gateway.
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podcast 37 on Launch of Lobbyfacts with Lucy and Vicky Cann
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Welcome to a new summer episode of EU Watchdog Radio. In this episode we will very exceptionally…talk about ourselves, about CEO as a lobby watchdog and dive into how it all started 25 years ago.
This year CEO celebrates it’s 25th anniversary albeit in a rather modest way, since at the start of this year the pandemic was still raging, and soon after a war started on the European continent with a subsequent energy- and food crisis. Not exactly a very festive momentum.
But while discussing the history of CEO , we automatically also discuss parts of the political and economical history of the European Union as we know it today. And we sincerely hope that by listening to co-founders of and still researchers with CEO, Olivier Hoedeman and Belen Balanya, who explain how it all began back in Amsterdam, you’ll understand why the EU functions today is it does.
Get ready for a trip down memory lane!
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we talk with Olivier Hoedeman, campaigner and researcher at CEO, and Bruno Maia, a doctor and activist.
We discuss with Olivier how the EU approached the negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies, what we can get from the documents CEO requested access to, and what was the TRIPS waiver agreed with the World Trade Organisation.
Bruno, on the other hand, addressed some of the concepts around vaccines. What are patents and do all vaccines have them? Are there examples with Big Pharma where the story is different? Are all vaccines developed in the private sector, and how are new molecules are developed?
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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In the latest episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we discuss how EU public finance institutions like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should approach the rebuilding of Ukraine after the war comes to an end.
Russia’s hostile invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond. The war has forced over 6.8 million people to flee the country, with millions more internally displaced.
The damage done to Ukraine’s infrastructure has been colossal. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that rebuilding the country would cost over half a trillion dollars. Zelensky has also said that 95 percent of buildings in the city of Mariupol had been destroyed, while the mayor of the recently liberated city of Kharkiv said that 1 in 4 homes in the city were now uninhabitable.
European public finance institutions have already provided immediate assistance to Ukraine. The EBRD committed an initial €2 billion to help both within Ukraine and neighbouring countries who have taken in refugees. The European Investment Bank also approved an initial €668 million of assistance at the beginning of the conflict, as well as a €4 billion credit line to support EU states hosting people who have fled the country.
Given the scale of the reconstruction needed, this is probably just the start. The EBRD in particular has been heavily involved in investing in Ukraine since the country joined the bank in 1992. Yet its investments have primarily favoured businesses, with over 40 percent of its total support going to the private sector. This is despite many projects having hugely negative social and environmental effects. For instance, Ukrainian agribusinesses giant Myronivsky Hliboproduct Pjsc has received €275 million from the EBRD since 2010. The company is associated with intimidation of communities who live near a poultry farm and has also been criticised for polluting local water sources with excessive amounts of nitrate.
In this episode, we speak with Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath, a campaigner with CEE Bankwatch Network. We discuss the EBRD’s operations in Ukraine before the war, including the bank’s support for controversial projects as well as nuclear energy.
We cover what lessons the bank can learn from these past mistakes, and how they may inform future reconstruction efforts. Finally, we talk about the EBRD’s relationship with Russia, and what must change after the country’s hostile invasion of Ukraine.
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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In this new episode of EU Watchdog Radio we discuss some fascinating historical events that helps to understand why the European Union is functions the way it does, and why we have not made enough progress to tackle climate change, despite al the scientific knowledge we have accumulated since at least 1972.
This episode is published on the 9th of May for a reason: this is Europe Day and thus we publish the first of several episodes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of CEO. As the European ‘powers that be’ are today celebrating Europe Day, we thought we also could use our anniversary to look back. However, instead of talking about the year 1950 when the ‘Schuman Declaration’ was signed, we will focus on 1972; A year that is at least as significant because in that year the Club of Rome published its famous report ‘Limits to Growth’. It sent shockwaves throughout the world and remains highly relevant today.
In this episode we will discuss with historian, scholar and writer, Geert Buelens, connected to the university of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Buelens recently published a new, fascinating book titled translated from Dutch, 'What we already knew back then' the forgotten history of 1972’. That year a unique and surprising consensus among business leaders, academics and politicians arose on the fact that eternal economic growth and population growth would make the Earth’s ecosystems crash at some point. This consensus did not last very long and Buelens tells us why that is the case. What was the role played by the American lobby group the Business Roundtable, also created in 1972, and later the influence of 'the neoliberal revolution'?
In this episode we also talk to CEO-researcher and co-founder Olivier Hoedeman about the creation of the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT) in 1981 – the European version of the US Business Roundtable, Olivier talks about the crucial yet largely unknown role it played and still very actively plays to keep corporate, private interests at the core of EU-policies, even in times of climate urgency. It’s getting more clear by the day why we need Fossil Free Politics.
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the European Union, by researching issues like the lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy&climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU-citizen!
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In this episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we talk about the EU’s dependency on gas, what energy poverty is and in what way it is linked to the Ukraine war. We also discuss the energy alternatives the EU is considering, and what really needs to happen.
Europe is facing a crisis of the cost of living and the invasion of Ukraine has exposed its dependency on Russian oil and gas. As the EU continues to import them, it is directly funding Putin’s war. According to Beyond Coal, in March alone Europe paid 20 billion euros to Russia for fossil fuels.
In today’s episode, we asked campaigners and researchers Martha Myers, at Friends of the Earth Europe, and Pascoe Sabido, at CEO, why the EU is stuck in the hands of the gas lobby and how is energy poverty linked to the war in Ukraine.
This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…
You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!
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