*Updated with the results* Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008

Results

On 9 December, the winners of the 2008 Worst EU Lobbying Awards have been revealed at a ceremony in Brussels, despite a last minute attempt to gag the organisers with legal action from one of the candidates. More than 8500 people took part in the online public vote.

One of the candidates for the Worst Conflict of Interest Award, suspended Commission official Fritz-Harald Wenig, unsuccessfully tried to silence the Worst EU Lobbying Awards last week by taking legal action in the Court of First Instance in Brussels to have his name removed from the nominations and not have his name mentioned during the Worst Lobbying Awards ceremony. The court ruled that freedom of speech was more important in this case.

This years Award for the Worst EU Lobbying 2008, with more than 50% of the votes, goes to a joint nomination for the agrofuel lobbyists, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Brazilian sugar barons UNICA and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy for their use of misleading information and greenwash. The lobbyists tried to influence crucial debates in the European Parliament and Council by claiming that agrofuels (crops used for fuel for cars and lorries) are sustainable.

The Worst Conflict of Interest Award 2008 goes to the Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi, with 26% of the votes cast. MEP Kauppi has been promoting the interests of her future employer, a banking lobbying group, while still an active member of the European Parliament. Kauppi has consistently urged light-touch regulation for the banking sector and in January 2009 will officially be employed by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services [3].

The nominees

The five candidates for the Worst EU Lobbying Award were:

 The agrofuels lobby (including MPOC, Unica and Abengoa) - nominated for their misleading campaigns to promote agrofuels as green: they allegedly distorting evidence to say palm oil and sugar cane-based fuels are environmentally friendly.

 The European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM) - nominated for hiding the involvement of big pharma corporations in their campaigns. 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 European Business and Parliament Scheme (EBPS) – nominated for abusing their location and lobbying from inside Parliament offices. The general business association 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.

 Brussels-based lobbying and PR agencies Gplus and Aspect Consulting - nominated for supporting the spread of war propaganda in the 7 to 12 August conflict between Russia and Georgia. 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 International Air Transport Association (IATA) - nominated for its deceptive lobbying campaign to avoid CO2 reduction obligations in the aviation sector. The airlines - including Lufthansa, British Airways, 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 five candidates for the Worst Conflict of Interest Award were:

 Dr Caroline Jackson MEP - nominated for her twin roles as an elected representative dealing with environmental issues and as an appointed environmental advisor to a private waste management company, Shanks.

 Finnish conservative MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi - nominated for abusing her role as an MEP by promoting the interests of her future employer, a big banking lobby group.

 Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP - nominated for his dual role as an MEP and lawyer for EU competition and regulatory issues, and for using his position as an MEP to allow lawyers to lobby in the dark.

 Ex-European Commission officials Petite, Klotz and Kjølbye – nominated for going through the revolving door from the competition department to law firms lobbying for industry clients.

 DG Trade Director Fritz-Harald Wenig - nominated for revealing inside information on trade tariffs to “lobbyists” who were in fact journalists working under cover. 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.

"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.

The competition opened online voting on 20 October 2008.

For further information

Worst Lobby Website