Winners of ‘Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008′ announced

Brussels, 10 December 2008. Winners of the Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008 were announced at an awards ceremony in Brussels last night. More than 8,500 people had taken part in an online vote to select the most deserving candidates. The ceremony went ahead despite a last-minute attempt by one of the candidates to gag the organisers with legal action.

Nominees for the awards were selected in two categories – Worst EU Lobbying 2008, and Worst Conflict of Interest 2008. In the former category, with an outstanding 52% of the total vote, the award was won by a joint nomination of agrofuel lobbyists the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Brazilian sugar entity UNICA and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy, for their consistent use of misleading information and greenwash. The lobbyists tried to influence key debates in the European Parliament and Council by claiming that agrofuel crops are sustainable.

The Worst Conflict of Interest 2008 award went to the Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi. The Finnish MEP won 26% of the total vote for her efforts in promoting the interests of her future employer, a banking lobby group, while still an active member of the European Parliament. Kauppi had consistently urged light-touch regulation for the banking sector – in January 2009 she will officially be employed by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services. The EPP-ED has issued a rebuttal of these accusations on MEP Kauppi’s behalf.

The awards were presented to the winners in absentio, in most cases to loud applause. Further details of the awards and the story behind each nomination can be found at the following websites:

The Worst EU Lobbying Awards, now in their fourth year, are intended to raise awareness of controversial lobbying practices in Brussels, and to put pressure on politicians to introduce effective EU lobbying transparency and ethics rules. The Worst EU Lobbying Awards are organised by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, LobbyControl and Spinwatch.