Corporate Europe Observatory

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Registration as it was on 24 Apr 2017
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Overview

Lobbying Costs

256,929€

Financial year: Jan 2016 - Dec 2016

Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)

7 Fte (17)

Lobbyists with EP accreditation

5

High-level Commission meetings

19

Lobbying Costs over the years

  • Info

    Corporate Europe Observatory   (CEO)

    EU Transparency Register

    5353162366-85 First registered on 05 Sep 2008

    Goals / Remit

    CEO is a Brussels-based research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.

    Corporate Europe Observatory is strongly committed to transparency about EU lobbying. CEO believes that the Transparency Register fails basic transparency standards and does not yet live up to its name. We support ALTER-EU's demand for a legally-binding register, stronger safeguards against inaccurate reporting, and the publication of the names of all individual interest representatives.

    When registering, we have chosen to provide additional information that we consider necessary and relevant for lobbying transparency. A credible EU lobbying transparency register should include names of individual lobbyists and the issues that they try to influence, provide precise and comparable financial information on lobbying, and have effective monitoring and sanctions to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information disclosed. In an effort to arrive at a more objective way of calculating lobbying expenditures, we follow guidelines that result from consultations with public interest organisations, professionals working on lobby transparency as well as experts of US lobby disclosure legislation. Our registration is therefore providing a more comprehensive calculation of our expenses for activities that aim to influence the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European institutions, and a list of those who, on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory, carry out such activities. Our registration is based on the guidelines for transparent registration developed by the Civil Society Contact Group and ALTER-EU. Find the guidelines here: http://www.alter-eu.org/documents/2012/04/transparency-register-guidelines

    In 2016-17 Corporate Europe Observatory runs campaigns and conducts research on the following issues (among others):

    - corporate political influence at EU level
    - EU lobby transparency and ethics rules
    - conflicts of interest rules of EU institutions
    - agri-business, chemicals and biodiversity
    - climate and energy
    - international trade and investment rules
    - regulation of financial markets
    - EU economic governance
    - better regulation

    Main EU files targeted

    Issues covered in 2016-17:

    - 2016-17 EU Transparency Register Review
    - Commission work programmes for 2015 and 2016, including the establishment of a mandatory Transparency Register for interest representatives, REFIT and the inter-institutional agreement on better law-making
    - Ongoing implementation of 2011 Code of Conduct for EU Commissioners
    - Ongoing implementation of 2014 European staff regulations
    - Ongoing implementation of 2012 Code of Conduct for MEPs
    - Founding regulations, rules on conflicts of interest, transparency issues at EU agencies (including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA))
    - Ongoing implementation of Rules of Procedure for Expert Groups
    - European Parliament's working group: Revisiting the Rules of Procedure
    - European Parliament's report: Transparency, Accountability and Integrity in the EU Institutions
    - Ongoing review of the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments
    - EU position at climate negotiations at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
    - Security of gas supply and LNG and gas storage strategies and resulting action plans
    - EU trade policy, with a focus on the current negotiations on the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA), EU- Japan agreement, and EU foreign investment policy
    - Food, GMO and pesticide policies and regulations
    - Trade Secrets Directive and its implementation
    - The work of the Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS) committee in the European Parliament
    - Revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive

    In addition we work to expose corporate lobbying on the following additional dossiers:
    - Capital Markets Union; Banking regulation; Copyright directive; Clinical Trials Directive and Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI 2); Clean Energy for All Europeans; Vehicle emissions review; Unconventional Fossil Fuels (BREFs); Tax Transparency Package; Endocrine disruptors regulation; Gas package; Brexit; the regulation of sugar; ECB ethics rules; ECB asset purchases (quantitative easing); development of the Economic and Monetary Union (including the 5 Presidents' report).

    Address

    Head Office
    Rue d'Edimbourg, 26
    Brussels 1050
    BELGIUM
  • People

    Total lobbyists declared

    17

    Employment timeLobbyists
    100%1
    50%8
    25%8

    Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)

    7

    Lobbyists with EP accreditation

    All Lobbyists with EP accreditation over time

    5 accreditations were / are live (in bold) for the selected state of 24 Apr 2017

    Name Start date End Date
    Ms Marcella VIA 30 Nov 2023 07 Nov 2024
    Ms Martha MYERS-LOWE 06 May 2023 31 Jan 2024
    Ms Margarida da Silva 05 Nov 2019 31 Oct 2020
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 11 Sep 2019 01 Oct 2020
    Ms Luisa IZUZQUIZA 15 Jun 2019 01 Jul 2020
    Ms Nina Holland 13 Apr 2019 01 May 2020
    Mr Martin Pigeon 05 Apr 2019 04 Apr 2020
    Ms Margarida da Silva 26 Oct 2018 26 Oct 2019
    Ms Nina Holland 03 Feb 2018 02 Feb 2019
    Ms Lora Verheecke 30 Jan 2018 31 Oct 2018
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 07 Dec 2017 06 Dec 2018
    Ms Margarida da Silva 01 Nov 2017 26 Oct 2018
    Mr Martin Pigeon 05 Oct 2017 27 Sep 2018
    Ms Nina Holland 26 Oct 2016 25 Oct 2017
    Mr Pascoe Sabido 19 Oct 2016 18 Oct 2017
    Mr Martin Pigeon 13 Oct 2016 05 Oct 2017
    Ms Margarida da Silva 30 Sep 2016 29 Sep 2017
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 07 Jun 2016 04 Jun 2017
    Ms Katharina KLEIN 22 Sep 2015 18 Jan 2016
    Mr Erik Wesselius 12 Sep 2015 10 Sep 2016
    Mr Pascoe Sabido 05 Sep 2015 03 Sep 2016
    Ms Nina Holland 03 Sep 2015 01 Sep 2016
    Mr Martin Pigeon 03 Jul 2015 30 Jun 2016
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 04 Jun 2015 01 Jun 2016
    Ms Nina Holland 01 May 2014 05 Jun 2015
    Ms Lora Verheecke 08 Jan 2015 06 Jan 2016
    Mr David Lundy 09 Jan 2015 07 Jan 2016
    Mrs Lora Verheecke 08 Jan 2015 27 Jan 2015
    Mr Erik Wesselius 05 Jul 2014 03 Jul 2015
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 01 May 2014 04 Jun 2015
    Mr Martin Pigeon 01 May 2014 05 Jun 2015
    Mrs Nina Holland 01 May 2014 27 Jan 2015
    Mr Pascoe Sabido 01 May 2014 05 Jun 2015
    Mrs Leontine Hogervorst 05 Feb 2014 18 May 2014
    Mrs Victoria Lucy Cann 02 Oct 2013 22 Feb 2014
    Mr Ivan Mammana 21 Jun 2013 22 Feb 2014
    Mr Richard Olivier Hoedeman 18 Apr 2013 17 Apr 2014
    Mrs Maria Belen Balanya Vidal 18 Apr 2013 02 Mar 2014
    Mr David Sanchez Carpio 13 Apr 2013 03 Oct 2013
    Mr Erik Wesselius 13 Apr 2013 02 Apr 2014
    Mrs Ester Arauzo Azofra 13 Apr 2013 02 Mar 2014
    Mr Kenneth Haar 13 Apr 2013 12 Feb 2014
    Mr Martin Pigeon 13 Apr 2013 12 Apr 2014
    Mrs Nina Holland 13 Apr 2013 12 Apr 2014
    Mr Pascoe Sabido 13 Apr 2013 12 Apr 2014
    Mrs Pia Eberhardt 13 Apr 2013 15 Feb 2014
    Mrs Rachel Tansey 13 Apr 2013 03 Oct 2013
    Mr Martin Konecny 13 Apr 2013 05 Oct 2013

    Complementary Information

    Below we list staff members and interns, alongside the main EU policy issues they work on (March 2017):

    - Olivier Hoedeman (50%): lobby transparency, privileged access, conflicts of interest regulation, tobacco, better regulation
    - Nina Holland (40%): food and agriculture policy
    - Theresa Crysmann (10%): CEO media officer
    - Martin Pigeon (40%): food and agriculture policy, Lobbycracy (EFSA), trade secrets, research policy
    - Pascoe Sabido (40%): privileged access, lobbying transparency, conflicts of interest, climate and energy
    - Lora Verheecke (40%): trade policy, lobbying transparency
    - Erik Wesselius (10%): lobby transparency, better regulation
    - Belén Balanyá (30%): climate and energy policy
    - Vicky Cann (40%): lobby transparency, privileged access
    - Pia Eberhardt (50%): trade policy, privileged access, EU foreign investment policy
    - Kenneth Haar (15%): EU economic governance, financial sector regulation, trade (TTIP)
    - Margarida Da Silva (80%): lobby transparency, conflicts of interest, revolving doors
    - Fabian Huebner (50%): Dieselgate, climate and energy policy
    - Sarah Reader (50%): Conflicts of interest, lobbying transparency, privileged access, corporate capture

    In addition, in 2016-17, CEO hosts the following interns working on issues relevant to this entry:
    - Marijke Vermander (30%) privileged access, lobby transparency, climate and energy (2016)
    - Sophie Wiedemann (20%) trade policy (2016)
    - Ronja Heise (30%) climate policy (2016)

    Not all these staff work full-time for CEO; most are part-time and the percentages in the above list relate to their total working hours. Our FTE calculation is based on rounding up all figures and includes all staff who carried out some relevant activities in 2016-17; some staff work substantially less than the FTE percentages given.

    Person in charge of EU relations

    Mr Olivier Hoedeman (Research and campaigns coordinator)

    Person with legal responsibility

    Ms Ann Doherty (Board Chair)

  • Categories

    Category

    III - Non-governmental organisations

    Subcategory

    Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar

  • Networking

    Affiliation

    - Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) www.alter-eu.org
    - The Treaty Alliance http://www.treatymovement.com/
    - Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B) www.s2bnetwork.org
    - European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) www.corporatejustice.org
    - Climate Justice Network (CJN) www.climatejusticenetwork.org/
    - Better Regulation Watchdog (BRW) www.betterregwatch.eu/
    - AlterSummit http://www.altersummit.eu/
    - Financialisation of Nature network (FoN) http://www.makefinancework.org/network-against-financialisation-nature
    - Alliance D19-20 http://www.d19-20.be/

    Member organisations

    None declared

  • Financial Data

    Closed financial year

    Jan 2016 - Dec 2016

    Lobbying costs for closed financial year

    256,929€

    Other financial info

    Additional information on Corporate Europe Observatory’s expenses and income related to interest representation activities (please note our critique on this register under "organisation's goals/remit" above):

    Corporate Europe Observatory’s expenses for interest representation activities in the year 2016 amounted to €256,929. These expenses were calculated according to the guidelines for registration drawn up by the EU Civil Society Contact Group and the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU).
    See: http://www.alter-eu.org/sites/default/files/documents/2012_ALTER-EU_CSCG_guidelines_Transparency_Register.pdf

    In 2016 our grants income was received from these funders:
    Isvara Foundation - €199,990
    Adessium Foundation - €172,904
    Open Society Foundation - €119,659
    Schöpflin foundation - €45,000
    Fondation du Progress Humaine - €30,000
    Marisla foundation - €33,416
    The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust - €25,000
    OAK foundation - €9,124
    JMG Foundation - €104,671
    Funders for fair trade - €69,000
    RH Southern Trust - €7,104
    Olin foundation - €36,979


    Total grants income: €852,847

    Full accounts for 2007-2016 are available on our website: https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/ceo_income_and_expenditure_2006-2016.pdf

  • EU Structures

    Groups (European Commission)

    None

    ACC

    None

    Groups (European Parliament)

    Intergroup on integrity, transparency, corruption and organised crime (ITCO). Corporate Europe Observatory is not a member of this intergroup, but attends some meetings.

    Communication activities

    This information is available on our website: http://corporateeurope.org/

    Other activities

    See the CEO Annual Review 2015 for a more comprehensive overview of our activities: http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/annualreport_2015.pdf

    Full accounts for 2006-16 are available on our website: https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/ceo_income_and_expenditure_2006-2016.pdf

  • Meetings

    Meetings

    19 meetings found. Download meetings

    The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.

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