*[Enwl-eng] Stop secret meetings with lobbyists
ENWLine
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Don’t let big money decide what happens in Europe! On Thursday the European Parliament will vote on a proposal to increase transparency, ensuring that key MEPs publish their meetings with lobbyists. We need to convince 376 MEPs to come to the session and vote “yes” to make it happen. |
Hi,
Who decides about political decisions in Brussels? Is it our representatives or is it the representatives of big business? We have the right to know!
This Thursday the European Parliament will vote on a rule obliging MEPs holding key positions to publish their meetings with lobbyists.
MEPs won't vote for more restrictive rules for themselves without public pressure to do so. It will be one of the tightest votes of this term, with 376 votes needed for the rule to be passed. Every single vote counts!
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Big money too often decides about the direction Europe goes. The arms industry sets the objectives of the EU’s defence programmes and ensures funding for its lethal business. The banking industry avoids regulation despite having caused a gigantic financial crisis. The EU’s biggest accounting firms are consulted on tax avoidance laws, even though they themselves avoid corporate tax. [1]
But dubious corporate influence can be limited drastically, if MEPs agree to publish their meetings with lobbyists, for everyone to check online. They promised it four years ago, and on Thursday they have their last chance to live up to their promise before their terms end.
In December the rule was voted by a committee of the European Parliament and passed with a tiny majority with 11 MEPs voting in favour and 10 against. [2] Now, we must convince 376 out of 751 MEPs to vote in favour of the rule for it to pass. Let’s send them a letter urging them to do it. Only massive pressure can help us win over the necessary number of MEPs!
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MEPs are our representatives. We have the right to know how they vote and why. We have the right to hold them accountable for their decisions: this is how democracy works. Big business has no democratic mandate to influence politicians behind closed doors.
Last week thousands of us flooded the mailboxes of the MEPs from the European People’s Party who wanted the lobby transparency vote to happen in secrecy. Many MEPs know already that we are watching closely! Help us increase the pressure, sign!
Ready to act and with a lot of hope,
Mika (Bordeaux), Marta (Warsaw), Jörg (Lubeck)
PS: For four years now, dozens of civil society organizations have been trying to convince MEPs to be more transparent. If the lobby transparency rule is not passed on Thursday, all this work will need to start anew, with the newly elected Parliament. This is our last chance. Act now, sign!
References:
[1]
https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2018/09/corporate-capture-europe
https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2018/07/accounting-influence
[2]
https://euobserver.com/institutional/143626
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