NGOs put forward EU 'worst lobbying' candidates

BRUSSELS - PR spin on the Russia-Georgia war and EU official Fritz-Harald Wenig - caught selling trade secrets in a Sunday Times sting - are among candidates for the "Worst EU Lobbying" award in 2008.

The competition - run by four pro-transparency NGOs including Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of the Earth Europe - opened online voting on Monday (20 October) and plans to give out the satirical gongs at a ceremony in Brussels on 9 December.

PR firms G-Plus and Aspect Consulting are named in the main "Worst Lobbying" category for their part in the 7 August to 12 August Russia-Georgia war.

The NGOs say that G-Plus, acting for the Kremlin, regurgitated to Western media official Russian claims that the Russian army was not conducting operations on Georgian territory and that the Georgian side had killed thousands of civilians in South Ossetia.

Meanwhile, Aspect Consulting concentrated on putting casualties in front of cameras on behalf of Tbilisi, with the firm's founder Patrick Worms even saying "We recognised the need for emotionalism in emotional times."

The other candidates for "Worst Lobbying" are a syndicate of biofuel producers, a group of pharmaceutical giants, European Parliament "squatters" and major European airlines.

Agrofuel makers MPOC, Unica and Abengoa are named for allegedly distorting evidence to say palm oil and sugar cane-based fuels are environmentally friendly.

Pharmaceutical firms BayerSchering, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Wyeth make the list for trying to discredit cut-price online drug retailers under the pretence of public safety.

The general business association, EBPS, is nominated for allegedly using friends in high places in the European Parliament to hold on to rent-free rooms in the parliament itself and sell access to MEPs for €15,000 a year.

The airlines - including Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France - make the list for funny counting of the aviation's CO2 footprint on websites with flowers and butterflies to try to get free credits in EU emissions trading.

The Worst Lobbying competition's second category - "Worst Conflict of Interest" - concentrates on three MEPs and four European Commission officials.

On the commission side, trade official Mr Wenig was caught out by undercover British reporters in September in a luxury restaurant in Brussels, offering to give advance tips on EU tariff decisions in return for €100,000.

Commission lawyers Michel Petite, Robert Klotz and Lars Kjolbye all went through the revolving door from the competition department to work for international law firms with Brussels clients.

Finnish conservative MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi will leave the parliament's economic affairs committee in January to join a Finnish banking lobby, following a career trying to relax EU bank regulation.

German conservative Klaus-Heiner Lehne combines work on the legal affairs committee with giving legal advice to law firm Taylor Wessing. And British conservative Caroline Jackson in the past chaired the environment committee while working for UK waste firm Shanks.

"Naming and shaming is one way to discourage such controversial lobbying practices, and this is the raison d'être for the 'Worst EU Lobbying' Awards," the NGOs said. "The awards also show the need for strong EU lobbying transparency and ethics rules." The competition is in its fourth year.