The European Environment Agency warns “according to some estimates, about eight percent of deaths can be attributed to hazardous chemicals. These numbers could be [an] underestimate.” That’s why the EU chemicals REACH policy needs urgent reform.
The PFAS corporate lobby should have been chastened by the revelations of the devastating impacts of forever chemicals – this has not happened.
The EU Commission justified its refusal to share the documents by admitting it is worried that it will not be able to withstand the “unnecessary pressure from stakeholders” ‒ in other words, the lobbying ‒ that could result from the documents’ release.
The EU Commission is talking up its ban on the consumer uses of forever chemicals. This might sound good in theory, but it would fail to effectively tackle PFAS pollution – and hand a major lobby win to the PFAS industry.
EU politicians will cosy up with Big Toxics at a secretive event on Tuesday to discuss a new ‘European Industrial Deal’ — a blatant showcase of corporate capture and an attempt to shift the political agenda in a profit-minded direction.
Ever since the EU Commission published its hazardous chemicals strategy, the industry has lobbied to undermine and dilute its promises — and lobbyists can point to some clear wins.
The European Commission has delayed publishing its proposal to revise the Reach regulation, a key part of the European Green Deal’s chemicals strategy. Centre-right political pressure, backed up by corporate lobbying, seems to have been behind the decision to delay.
The sharks are circling around the REACH proposal on ‘forever chemicals’ and there are rumours that it could be dropped from the commission’s agenda. If true this would be a major coup for the chemicals industry and its political allies.
While in 2015 the top-declaring companies spent roughly €90m between them on lobbying the EU, this figure increased to almost €120 million in 2022.
From food policy to climate change, corporate lobbyists are exploiting the Ukraine crisis to try to slash legislation that gets in the way of profit. But this is only making things worse.
The Commission fell hook, line, and sinker for the arguments of big business on the corporate due diligence directive — conflating rules and regulations with so-called ‘red tape’ and rebranding regulations as ‘burdens’ on business which should be scrapped.
There are also numerous loopholes in the deal which will enable corporations to keep portions of their profits outside of the scope of the tax, so paying even less than 15 percent.
In 2020, the German presidency of the EU rejected the idea of accepting corporate sponsors. On this point, France seems unwilling to follow Germany.
At the start of the German presidency of the EU Council it committed itself to a “fair taxation” agenda. But as we enter the final leg of its six-month term, time is running out to make good on this promise.
The EU Commission wants to reduce cancer rates in Europe. So it’s imperative this week’s chemicals strategy properly regulates substances that can cause cancer – despite the efforts of the chemicals lobby, which has spent years successfully preventing tough action.
Few people know that the code of conduct for the European Council president is substantially weaker than the code of conduct for commissioners.
Junkcer failed to protect the public interest from powerful corporate lobbies – von Der Leyen must do better.
There is a distinct sense that in London and Brussels alike, political elites are intimately agreeing Brexit priorities with business elites.
The EU lobby register is voluntary meaning it is filled with gaps and inaccuracies. The current review ought to change this.