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Analysis

HOW LOBBYISTS CAPTURED THE EU

QATARGATE IS MERELY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

BY THOMAS FAZI

. President Ursula. (JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Thomas Fazi is a writer, journalist and translator. His latest book Reclaiming
the State is published by Pluto Press.

December 19, 2022

BATTLEFOREUROPE

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December 19, 2022

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FILED UNDER:

Global affairs CorruptionDemocracyDon't missEuropeEuropean UnionQatar

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Addressing a recent European Parliament debate on “human rights in the context
of the World Cup”, vice-president Eva Kaili had an unexpected message: “Qatar is
a frontrunner in labour rights.” So, perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised
when, last week, she was among six people arrested by Belgian police amid
allegations of Qatari corruption and money laundering .

Members of the EU establishment have been quick to spin the issue as a problem
limited to a few bad apples. Several European Parliament officials told Politico
the allegations were limited to a “few individuals” who had gone astray. Others,
however, expect more names to be drawn into the widening dragnet. But whether or
not the scandal extends to other people is beside the point. By focusing on
“Qatargate”, we risk losing sight of the fact that the scandal is a symptom of a
much deeper and more widespread malaise, involving not just the European
Parliament but all EU institutions. Bribery and corruption are endemic to the
Brussels system — and most of it is perfectly legal.

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It is estimated that there are more than 30,000 lobbyists working in Brussels,
making it the second capital of lobbying in the world after Washington, DC. Most
are in the service of corporations and their lobby groups, with huge sums at
their disposal: the combined lobbying budget of the 12,400 companies and
organisations on the EU lobby register has grown steadily over the years —
especially since the pandemic — and today amounts to €1.8 billion.

Topping the list are Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Energy giants such as Apple,
Google, Meta, Bayer and Shell, as well as industry associations such as the
European Chemical Industry Council, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical
Industries and Associations (EFPIA), and BusinessEurope — all of which declare
annual lobbying budgets of €4-6 million. The true figure is likely to be
significantly higher, given the long history of businesses under-reporting their
spending.

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Big Pharma and Big Tech, in particular, both significantly boosted their
lobbying firepower throughout the pandemic. EFPIA alone — which represents
Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — increased its spending by 20% in
2020. A conservative estimate of total annual EU lobby spending by Big Pharma is
now close to €40 million per year, with nearly 300 lobbyists officially working
in Brussels to push the industry’s interests (though the actual number is
probably higher, since disclosure rules do not capture all the spending on law
firms, academic partnerships and activities in individual countries).

It’s safe to say the investment was amply repaid: by the end of 2021, the EU had
signed €71 billion worth of confidential contracts, securing up to 4.6 billion
doses of vaccines (more than ten doses for each European citizen). EU Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated its biggest deal yet with Pfizer — for
up to 1.8 billion doses, worth up to €35 billion if fully exercised — via a
series of text messages with the company’s chief. The European Public
Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the matter.

Such extreme cases, however, mask the true extent of the structural problem that
pervades every aspect of the Brussels system. It goes without saying that this
army of well-funded lobbyists, which far outnumbers and outspends public
interest groups, gives corporations a massive influence over the European
decision-making and legislative process. Lobbyists in the EU also have
privileged access to decision-makers: the biggest companies and lobby
organisations hold hundreds of meetings with the European Commission every year.
Between December 2019 and May 2022, for example, the von der Leyen Commission
engaged in a staggering number of 500 meetings with representatives and
lobbyists of the oil, gas and coal companies — close to one meeting every
working day.

Since the start of the war, the arms industry has also (very successfully)
ramped up its lobbying efforts, using the resulting uncertainty to whitewash its
image and position itself as an essential partner that can provide the necessary
tools to ensure security. In the days following Putin’s invasion, the German
arms lobby group BDSV even went as far as asking the EU to “recognise the
defence industry as a positive contribution to social sustainability”.

Suggested reading

THE GANGS OF CALAIS

By David Patrikarakos

Pro-EU reformers say these problems can be resolved with institutional
tinkering, such as extending the requirement to disclose their meetings with
lobbyists to all EU officials, introducing stricter codes of conduct, and
setting up an ethics committee overseeing all EU institutions. Some claim the
problem is the opaque nature of the EU’s legislative process, which makes it
practically impossible not only for citizens but even for national parliaments
“to scrutinise how their national representatives have acted”, as Emily
O’Reilly, the official European Ombudsman, admitted. Others argue that the
solution is to “democratise the EU” by strengthening the European Parliament.

But all these proposals miss the point: the EU, by virtue of its supranational
and technocratic nature, is structurally prone to capture by vested interests,
be they foreign governments or multinational corporations — and no amount of
reform will change that. The problem of lobbying exists at the national level as
well, of course. However, this is hugely exacerbated at the supranational level.
As the researchers Lorenzo Del Savio and Matteo Mameli write: “International
loci are in general physically, psychologically, and linguistically more distant
from ordinary people than national ones are. This distance means more room for
oligarchic capture.” It is telling in this respect that most Europeans have no
idea who the President of the European Parliament is.

In this sense, the problem of EU corruption, rather than being a bug in the
system, should be seen as an inherent consequence of the supranationalisation of
politics. Making the EU “more democratic” won’t change the fact that the lack of
a European demos represents an insurmountable obstacle to the creation of a
European democracy, even if Brussels was interested in going in that direction
(which it isn’t). The number of corrupt officials involved in the amateurish
Qatargate scandal is of little importance; for the EU, it is already too late.

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Jim Veenbaas
1 day ago

Excellent article. The EU is an undemocratic shit show.

126

Frank McCusker
1 day ago

Reply to Jim Veenbaas

Are you seriously suggesting that very similar stuff does not happen in the UK?
In Londongrad? Are you really that blinkered, and that naive?
See:
https://youtu.be/gyk12Wf_TeQ London dirty money capital of the world
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/4/uks-conservatives-accused-of-corruption-over-mp-suspension-vote
https://www.transparency.org.uk/publications/liftthelid
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-08/no-johnson-apology-as-lobbying-furor-engulfs-his-u-k-government
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/government-corruption/
https://www.politico.eu/article/great-britain-boris-johnson-lobby-rules-corruption/
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/12/boris-johnson-former-anti-corruption-tsar-john-penrose-calls-for-urgent-lobbying-reform
https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/press-release-uber-files-are-a-massive-wake-up-call-for-western-democracies-and-the-uk-to-get-their-act-together-on-lobbying-transparency/
https://www.politico.eu/article/report-uk-coronavirus-contracts-costing-3-6b-raise-alarm-of-corruption/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cash-for-access-scandal-lobbying-cleanup-law-that-failed-to-stop-mp-scandals-10065842.html
Isn’t this supposed to be a forum for objectivity? One-eyed commentary like this
just makes you appear imprisoned by your own narrow prejudices.

-25

Richard North
1 day ago

Reply to Frank McCusker

I don’t think the fact that lobbying and bribery exist elsewhere undermines the
points being made by the authors of the article and the comment you replied to.

Peter B
1 day ago

Reply to Frank McCusker

Unherd’s mission statement:
“As you may have guessed from our strange spelling, UnHerd aims to do two
things: to push back against the herd mentality with new and bold thinking, and
to provide a platform for otherwise unheard ideas, people and places.”
So it makes no claim to be a “forum for objectivity”. And nor should it.
I agree (if you meant to say that) that inviting Russian “businessmen” to stay
in the UK in such large numbers was never a good idea. You never raise standards
(in this case on corruption) by lowering them.
The fact that you can readily cite all those reports isn’t necessarily evidence
that things are the same or worse in the UK. It’s certainly arguable that the
press holds politicians to a higher standard in the UK than elsewhere in Europe
and that you see more such reports as a result. But neither is a press report
evidence. At least we have functional courts with authority to act.
And unlike in the EU and much of Europe (I give you Beruslconi, Chirac, Sarkozy,
et al), our highest officials do not enjoy immunity from prosecution
(incidentally, a privilege that EU officials may still enjoy in the UK after
Brexit – and an utter disgrace if it is still the case).

Liam F
1 day ago

Reply to Frank McCusker

as was pointed out in the article – corruption exists at the national level
too-. But is always far worse at supranational level due to no oversight at all.
(no matter how many links you cut n paste)

Last edited 1 day ago by Liam F
5

Hugh Bryant
1 day ago

A honeypot will always attract flies. That’s why political power needs to be
dispersed, not concentrated into the hands of smaller and smaller elites. The
Swiss have always understood this. Why do the rest of us find it so hard to
grasp?

Nothing that can be done by a parish council should be done by a county council
and nothing that can be done by a county council should be done by a national
government.

Hugh Bryant
1 day ago

Reply to Hugh Bryant

… and nothing at all should be done by supranational government.

Andrew D
1 day ago

Reply to Hugh Bryant

Indeed, it’s called subsidiarity – a word the EU uses quite a lot, apparently
without irony

Damian Grant
6 hours ago

Reply to Andrew D

As an coincidental aside, Andrew, it’s a central part of Catholic Social
Teaching (CST)…..subsidiarity….and something, I believe that the so-called
‘Blue’ side of Labour point to (e.g. John Cruddas)……

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Hugh Bryant

The Roman Empire in the time of Trajan (early 2nd century) seems to have managed
to run on one ‘senior civil servant’* per 500K head of population.

Somewhat later however, Tang China (626-907 AD) an Empire of similar size and
complexity could only manage one ‘senior civil servant’ (the Mandarin class) per
15K head of population.

We have much to learn from the ‘Ancients’.

(*Rejoicing in such titles as: Legatus, Proconsul, Quaestor, and Procurator.)

Samir Iker
1 day ago

Reply to Hugh Bryant

That’s a brilliant observation.
Sadly, Britain which used to have a very dispersed governance system is going
the wrong way, and fast. And after a certain degree of centralisation, reversing
it will be impossible.

Matt Hindman
1 day ago

A bug? I’m sorry. I thought supranational and technocratic bureaucracies being
put above the wishes of the citizens of the member states was a feature. You
mean such a system also easily lends itself to corruption? Say it isn’t so!

Last edited 1 day ago by Matt Hindman
74

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 day ago

Reply to Matt Hindman

I hesitate to say this but the MP’s expenses scandal seems to show that the
political representatives in this country do have some virtue and possibly that
the attitude towards corruption in UK is a lot less tolerant than it is in other
counties.
My limited experience of business in the EU other European counties is that
corruption is common and even prevalent

Christopher Chantrill
1 day ago

I am shocked, shocked to find that corruption is going on in here.

Samir Iker
1 day ago

Reply to Christopher Chantrill

Jokes aside, there are certain stuff in this article that are shocking. The bit
about those text messages with Pfizer, and the shamelessness of the officials
involved (imagine if Trump behaved like that) is still astounding.

rue boileau
20 hours ago

Reply to Samir Iker

The bit about the text messages was widely reported months ago.

Ian Stewart
1 day ago

Reply to Christopher Chantrill

I hear bears shit in the woods too.

Mark Gourley
1 day ago

Reply to Ian Stewart

And rumours have it the Pope is a Catholic.

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Ian Stewart

You can take a man from the Gorbals but NEVER take the Gorbals from the man!*

QED.

(*Old English proverb.)

Paddy Taylor
1 day ago

The EU, at its core, is a group of corporate bureaucrats in Brussels working as
de facto agents of big banks and transnational businesses – with lobbyists
pushing the agenda of the businesses they shill for, and paying for the
sybaritic lifestyles enjoyed by those inside the machine.
Neoliberal policies (set within a protectionist framework) dominate the European
Commission, European Parliament, European Central Bank, European Court of
Justice. The commission – who sets such policy – operate with no transparency
and under no democratic mandate. And the ECJ is there to give the whole rotten
enterprise an air of legitimacy.
Of all the misconceptions that bounce around in the heads of committed
remainers, the idea that the ECJ defends “Worker’s Rights” is the most
misguided. Membership of the EU in no way guarantees any such workers rights. In
fact the very opposite is true. Even such rights that a member state has
enshrined in their own laws are subject to ECJ interpretation, and the ECJ has
long form in valuing corporate interests over workers rights.
Show me an ECJ judgement, any judgement under EU law, that defended workers
against the management? Or, show me when EU law sided with consumers against the
corporation?
You might find one or two small cases if you really looked hard, but look for
judgements that found in favour of the corporation against the unions, against
the workers, and you’d be inundated.
By far the biggest power brokers when it comes to regulatory legislation within
the EU are large multinational corporate interests. The regulatory framework is
designed with them in mind, raising barriers to entry for start-ups and stifling
competition. They have spent many years and countless millions creating this
framework to be in their favour. That is never a good deal for the consumer or
for the workforce.
The common denominator amongst the majority of commissioners and senior power
brokers within the EU is that they moved to Brussels having lost an election in
their own country, or having failed to secure the leadership of their own party,
or were put forward as their country’s representative having exhausted their
political usefulness at home. So, in this Eutopian Govt, that supposedly stands
as a bastion of democracy, they have contrived a supra-national structure that
is not merely undemocratic but actively anti-democratic – all at the behest of
lobbyists and corporate interests.
It is only at the point in these politicians’ careers when they have
been expressly rejected by their electorate, or outlived their relevance, that
they are invited to come and legislate for the plebs of Europe – without ever
having to appeal to an electorate again. Neil Kinnock – rejected by voters at
every turn, a man who even contrived to lose to the Tories at the (previous)
height of their unpopularity, made a very comfortable living for himself in
Brussels. Indeed his entire family – wife, son, daughter-in-law and daughter –
all got their noses deep into the euro-trough, a trough filled to the brim by
the lobbyists for corporate interests who expect – and receive – preferential
treatment as a return on their “investment”.
No wonder so many of these British EU-beneficiaries fought so hard to keep the
UK tied to this land flowing with milk and honey – and, for them and their ilk,
Gravy.

Last edited 1 day ago by Paddy Taylor
41

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
1 day ago

Reply to Paddy Taylor

Did any one notice how much better dressed Kinnock became once he became a
Commissioner?

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Ethniciodo Rodenydo

Let’s face it that wasn’t very difficult!

Last edited 1 day ago by stanhopecharles344
4

Stoater D
11 hours ago

Reply to Ethniciodo Rodenydo

Of course, he has more cash to splash.
That is what the EU is all about.

Peter B
1 day ago

Reply to Paddy Taylor

Very well said. It’s very noticable how the largest 50 companies in Europe are
so little changed over the last 50 years. Unlike in the US. Almost as if the EU
is protecting the vested interests of big businesses whilst it claims it is
“protecting jobs” and “worker’s rights”. They may be winning the PR war here,
but they’re losing the economic one.

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Paddy Taylor

The way Irish Politicians of all Parties have ‘plundered’ the EU is one the best
examples. A simply gravure performance!

Malcolm Webb
1 day ago

The EU is run by the Commission – made up of a bunch of failed national
politicians – which originates all legislation and has an appetite to deliver
this by Regulation, rather than Directive, so as to avoid national legislatures
having any say or power on implementation . No wonder every lobbyist worth their
salt looks to influence of “inform” the Commission.

The EU Parliament is a talking shop with few powers except to delay or obstruct
and therefore it comes as no surprise that the name of its President is not on
all of our lips.

Bribery and other such corrupt practices of course are not to be tolerated and
should be stamped on but most lobbying is not corrupt and if you think massive
lobbying is not also coming from likes of Greenpeace, WWF, Trade Unions etc etc
you are kidding yourself.

Business has a duty to inform legislators of the facts – sadly, neither in this
Country nor the EU, can the civil servants be relied upon as a source of
knowledge and understanding of the industries in which the politicians like to
constantly meddle – often to detriment of us all.( see last U.K. Budget).

Closing down the business lobbyists would give the Unions, NGOs , single focus
pressure groups and their like, a free and uncontested role – and what an awful
outcome that would be.

Peter B
1 day ago

Reply to Malcolm Webb

Good points. There has to be a way for individuals, groups, companies and
industry assiociations to make sure their concerns are at least understood. The
critical points here are:
a) whether this is done openly, with the interests declared in public
b) whether there is equality of access and influence for all parties, regardless
of size and budget
The EU, as a relatively young organisation, had the opportunity to design a
system that would meet those concerns. It looks like they failed to do so.
In these situations, we all queue up to blame the lobbyists (or bankers with
financial crashes). The reality is that they have to play the cards they’re
given and the regulators are the ones we need to question. I’m not keen on
lobbyists and the massive industry that comes with them, but they’re probably a
necessary evil in a free society. And the more transparent we make the lobbying,
the fewer we should need.
The other side to this – as Malcom notes – is that if we had first rate
administrators in the EU (as appears to be the case in Singapore) who really
understood the industries they were meddling in, there would be far less need
for “help” from lobbyists.
The problems really are of the EU’s own making. And likely unfixable in practice
as the EU seems never to learn or reform – it seems almost immune to failure or
feedback.

Jonas Moze
1 day ago

I would tell a story:

As the flood waters rose and Noah’s Arc floated, the people remaining stood in
the water and as it got to their knees they held their children on their hips,
and as it rose to their waist they put their children on their shoulders, and
when it got to their necks they put their children under themselves, to stand
on. These were what man had become, and so God had sent the flood to start
again.

Haha – Exactly how the covid policy worked. Schools closed, children masked,
isolated, vaxed with an experimental gene therapy that carried known risks,
lifetime harms – and why? They did not suffer from covid. The word sent out was
to save granny, haha… and the teachers, and their parents…

Or maybe….. The EU, lobbyists are not pure at heart…

”by the end of 2021, the EU had signed €71 Billion worth of contracts, securing
up to 4.6 billion doses of vaccines (more than ten doses for each European
citizen). EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen negotiated its biggest
deal yet with Pfizer — for up to 1.8 billion doses, worth up to €35 billion if
fully exercised”

haha, maybe this is why

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Jonas Moze

Only € 71 billion!!
By comparative analysis with the UK’s projected £39 billion on ‘Track & Trace’
that appears rather feeble!

Dougie Undersub
1 day ago

Reply to CHARLES STANHOPE

Come on, Charles, this is not worthy of you. You know this is nonsense and your
use of the word “projected” doesn’t absolve you.
https://fullfact.org/health/test-and-trace-37-billion/

CHARLES STANHOPE
1 day ago

Reply to Dougie Undersub

Mea culpa, guilty as charged!

Billy Bob
1 day ago

Reply to Jonas Moze

I’m confused by your comment. What has corruption in the EU or the response to
the pandemic got to do with a genocidal God drowning people?

Mike Michaels
1 day ago

Reply to Billy Bob

We sacrificed the children to save Granny and protect teachers. Which part did
you struggle to understand?

James Kirk
1 day ago

Reply to Mike Michaels

Adults can have more children if they survive. Children couldn’t run the Ark, or
teach. Nature at its purest and harshest.

Billy Bob
1 day ago

Reply to Mike Michaels

I struggle to understand how that ties into the story of the ark, when God
simply drowned everybody old and young

Steve Murray
1 day ago

Reply to Billy Bob

Surely you don’t mean the same God that some people think should be worshipped?
(Can’t wait for someone to come along and ‘explain’ that it was all our fault!)

Julian Farrows
1 day ago

Reply to Billy Bob

It’s a warning against the excesses of human pride.

Jonas Moze
1 day ago

Reply to Billy Bob

Ok, lets have a new analogy, since the adults destroying their children to get
to breath a wile longer does not work for you as a cautionary tale.

Lets take if the Titanic disaster had been managed by the ones who managed
covid.

The speakers would blast – OLD AND FEEBLE TO THE LIFEBOATS.

Everyone else can sink or swim – because it is societies first duty to keep the
old and feeble alive another 6 months, even if it destroys many of the youth.
was the policy. Entire generation had education wrecked to potentially allow
those virtually on deaths door another short wile. You know loss of education =
more poverty, and poverty = shorter lifespans and all manner of social
pathologies – and we intentionally did this to the children with the excuse of
saving granny….

try this DeSantis Joe Ladipo video on it all for fun

https://rumble.com/v20n6e4-covid-19-mrna-vaccine-accountability-roundtable-with-facebook-comments.html

B Emery
20 hours ago

Reply to Jonas Moze

Why do we need dramatic comparisons to bible stories with drowning children or
sinking titanics?
I still see no parallels.
You’ve skipped a fair bit of time between the ark and the titanic. Are they the
only boat related stories you know?
I don’t think I met any parents on the school playground last week that would
stand on their children to save themselves from drowning.
You have just picked two very random references for dramatic effect, if you want
to be taken seriously you can’t start throwing Bible stories and titanics around
as a comparison to covid guidance and legislation.
We were told lockdowns were also perpetuated to prevent hospitals and services
being overwhelmed, not just to save old people. So you might want to weave that
into your next ‘analogy’. Haha
Marvell 2.0?

Last edited 17 hours ago by B Emery
1

Dougie Undersub
1 day ago

Yet there are still some people who think Brexit was a mistake.

Dominic A
1 day ago

Reply to Dougie Undersub

..and now they are a majority, not just of the know-all elites, but of the
general population. Perhaps because they understand nuance – that to find
corruption in the EU does not mean there is none, or better, in the UK. It
rather looks as though this government is using Brexit to lower standards, for
example water pollution.

-13

Stoater D
11 hours ago

Reply to Dominic A

Only in your head.

Jack Tarr
1 day ago

For democratic regimes (this definition obviously excludes the EU and its puppet
states), lobbying should be converted from a profession into a criminal offence,
on a par with more orthodox forms of corruption.
The definition of criminal lobbying would be along the lines of:
Seeking to alter the course of public policy by private access to government
ministers, members of parliament and/or the civil service and local government.
There would be nothing to stop industry bodies or other interested parties from
public campaigning, putting adverts in newspapers, etc., provided that there was
no difference between the public material and anything sent to politicians or
civil servants (sunlight is an effective disinfectant).

Lukas Nel
1 day ago

Reply to Jack Tarr

Right and where would you suppose politicians would get the copious amounts of
money necessary for campaigning under any system?

Frank McCusker
1 day ago

Reply to Jack Tarr

Lobbying is widespread in the UK – are you really so poorly informed as your
comment appears to suggest?

-5

Stoater D
11 hours ago

Reply to Jack Tarr

Your final paragraph decscribes what lobbying is.
It is not inherently corrupt.

Lesley van Reenen
1 day ago

But I thought this discussion about the corruption built into lobbying was all
conspiracy theory?

Saul D
1 day ago

While corporate lobbying is insidious, there is also a ton of NGO and pressure
group lobbying that takes place – eg the green lobbying over nuclear power
within the European energy mix.
The power and role of all the lobby groups means we get directives created
without a popular mandate, that are driven by interested parties rather than
public need. It’s why Europe has an energy crisis, or why paperwork and edicts
about data protection have strangled sensible privacy rules, and how we got
things like the olive-oil refillable bottle ban.
In the EU, individual politicians have minimal ties to an electorate (they get
places on lists decided by party barons, or allocated by government), and
policies are created using EU civil servants and special interest groups that
have barely any connection to the priorities of public opinion. And because
policy is legalistic, pedantic and conducted in multiple languages away from the
public eye, it will always be technocratic in outlook and manipulable to the
agendas of interested parties.

Edward De Beukelaer
1 day ago

The real problem is wider than the EU or any other entity: since the end of WW2
all decisions relating to feeding (farming), health and housing have been based
on quick solutions proposed by an industry that only needs to justify its
actions to its shareholders. (At that time there was a shortage of many things
of course…) But this has lead to a way how we (modern western society) all see
things through these industrial quick solution developments/paradigm/economic
systems.
There is a tiny slow change where people realise that modern medicine saves
lives but creates chronic illness, that farming produces cheap food (but causes
illness of the consumers, farms, farmers and the land) that housing was not made
for people to live, …. and new small projects are doing well, localism may not
be so bad…
As long as ‘we’ keep buying the products of the ‘big corporations’ (I don’t
blame ‘we’ because these products (food, medicine, housing) are quite
convenient) we shall keep the post war system going.
We can write as many as the above articles as we want and be indignant about it
but ‘we’ are all funding this lobby….

Jane Ingram
1 day ago

Reply to Edward De Beukelaer

Great comment, spot on.

Allison Barrows
1 day ago

Mr. Fazi, the United States was created as a representative republic, not a
“liberal democracy”. Of course, now it is neither, as our federal government,
like the EU, is captured by all those Bigs on an even greater scale, and that’s
just the way Washington likes it.

John Dewhirst
1 day ago

If you walk around Luxembourg or Strasbourg the stench of cronyism and grubbing
from the pot is patently obvious. Thereagain, plenty of SNP pet projects and
patronage in Scotland.

Mr Bellisarius
1 day ago

It was more than 20 years ago that BA left the Airbus consortium due to there
being too much ‘political influence’.
Strange deals and arrangements are the hallmark of EU activity. Did any ever
think this was not due to the lobby?

Samuel Ross
1 day ago

I am reminded of the story “The Snowball Effect”, by Katherine Maclean. This
indicates how organizations are designed by quirks in their nature, from time of
creation, to either shrink or grow, without reference to the needs they were
founded to serve. This is the EU, a grower
organization.https://ia903101.us.archive.org/13/items/thesnowballeffec50766gut/50766.txt

Graff von Frankenheim
1 day ago

Two reforms might have some impact: firstly, block the revolving door both ways
but in case of MEPS and Commissioners include all their staff members above a
certain policy making level and secondly have a financial inspectorate
(independent of all EU institutions but with full powers of arrest and forced
entry) perform an unannounced dawn raid on all of them twice per year for a full
financial audit (private residences, offices and those of their next of kin). If
they fail the audit twice they’re out. Because of the first rule, that
means….end of career.

James Kirk
1 day ago

You’re on a low 5 figure salary. You are offered a 6 figure salary on the
understanding you might just look the other way periodically.
Cast the first stone, Mother.

Jon Hawksley
1 day ago

It would be interesting to see a side by side comparison on the returns for
corporate lobbying in the EU and US. In particular their success at preventing
standards being set that are costly to the corporations.

B Emery
1 day ago

‘for example, the von der Leyen Commission engaged in a staggering number of 500
meetings with representatives and lobbyists of the oil, gas and coal companies —
close to one meeting every working day’
‘In the days following Putin’s invasion, the German arms lobby group BDSV even
went as far as asking the EU to “recognise the defence industry as a positive
contribution to social sustainability”’
Goldman sachs, Bank of America, big pharma, say no more.
Some of the stuff in here is next level.
I feel it pretty much sums up what is wrong with Western politics now.
I agree with the conclusion – already too late. This level of corruption both in
the EU and America (UK too has its problems here) – this is how stuff starts
falling apart, how wider conflicts start, how oil will turn to monopolising
hydrogen, how enormous crashes happen. Corruption rotting the system. What’s the
answer though, we have come to rely on big oil, big pharma, big banks,
multinational mega corps, tearing the existing governments down doesn’t get rid
of these interests or their enormous budgets. We are in a right pickle now.

Last edited 1 day ago by B Emery
2

Steve White
1 day ago

Thinking about this makes everything for the past 3 years make a lot more sense.

j watson
1 day ago

Four points
Firstly the fact we can turn this spotlight on the institution reflects the
benefit of plurality and the illumination benefit. The EU itself is recognising
it has to do more to tackle this. A free press must continue this scrutiny.
Secondly the lobbying does reflect the importance of the EU internationally in
how standards and regulations are set. That concentration has some advantage
but some disadvantage too.
Thirdly those of us in the UK should perhaps ask ourselves some similar
questions about our own Parliament and esp the House of Lords – 800 unelected
members, an ever-increasing number of donors to political parties who
essentially have ‘bought’ their influence and ermine etc. The EU, thankfully,
has nothing of equivalence. (And having lost c£14b+ on poor governance during
Pandemic we aren’t in a great position to criticise)
And finally the author recognises the pressure on institutions from external
parties is not unique or likely to cease, but he’s vague on solutions. As my
third point notes, the idea national institutions do much better is not that
clear-cut. It’s a governance issue we all have to grapple with.

Peter B
1 day ago

Reply to j watson

All good points. But I’m in little doubt in practice that the larger the
institution and the more remote from those it purports to represent, the more
chronic the problem becomes. You are quite right to put the EU and House of
Lords in the same bucket here – over-staffed, appointed (anyone in the EU with
executive power), no way to remove them.
The EU is a bureaucracy at heart and not a government. Like all bureaucracies,
however noble their aims, after a while they come to serve and protect
themselves. We’ll see a lot of damage limitation activity after the current
scandal, but I’m less confident about reform. When corrupt EU officials start
going to jail and repay what they’ve taken, I’ll start considering they might be
serious about reform.
Say what you like about UK government, but we can at least get rid of misfits
and incompetents. As seen earlier this year !

j watson
1 day ago

Reply to Peter B

Yep something in these all points PB.
The bit I’d probably debate is ‘EU just a bureaucracy’. There is this danger for
sure, and it does need to do more about it’s democratic legitimacy in the eyes
of the public. But in fact it has some significant democratic controls – the EU
parliament, the Council of Ministers appointed by the elected Govts who appoint
the Executive officers (The US Executive officers, President and VP aside, are
appointed rather than elected) and of course a series of national veto’s. But
the problem has undoubtedly been much of this is too complicated and too far
away for many to fully understand, even more in the UK where we spent 25yrs
rubbishing rather than explaining.
I wonder who’ll send someone to jail first for similar forms of corruption? The
EU or the UK? Now that would be a beneficial head to head. I suspect the EU may
feel this is more of a test case that it has to meet than we do ourselves right
now but would like to be proved wrong

-1

AC Harper
1 day ago

I’ve argued before that the EU is a new Hanseatic League, formed to protect the
trade of big business across member states and those nearby.
It is hardly surprising that big businesses compete through lobbying to gain or
maintain their position at the trough.

Rachel Taylor
1 day ago

Lobbying (and the resulting institutional capture) and corruption are two
different things. The BBC and other political institutions in the UK have been
captured by the guardians, but I don’t consider them corrupt. They are openly
doing what they advocate.
In the same way the EU is a protectionist organisation for producers, not for
consumers. It is doing what it does e.g. Common Agricultural Policy. Whether
individuals profit from it corruptly is another matter.

Ciaran Upton
11 hours ago

It may surprise you but some of us are enjoying the discomfort of Ms Kaili which
would probably not be seen in Athens. I suspect politicians get away with murder
in most if not all European capitals and yes I include London therein.

laurence scaduto
58 minutes ago

As an outsider (American) I always assumed that a major purpose of the EU was to
avoid the pesky expectations of fairness, correctness, good government, etc. The
original idea was to create a government that is emphatically not “of the
people, by the people, for the people”, and thus to avoid having to pretend that
they’re doing anything other than enriching the oligarchs.
For most of human history that was the singular purpose of government. The
revolutions of the 1770s, 80s and 90s are seen as an abberation in need of
correction.

Frank McCusker
1 day ago

-10

Dominic A
1 day ago

Reply to Frank McCusker

Frank, when I see an unHerd article on the EU, Trump, or Brexit, or immigration,
no matter how balanced, reasonable it is (and they usually are) I’ve learned
that the comments will be in the upside down world. UnHerd becomes Bovine World
of MAGA and ERG: all sins, bad rhetoric, faults, malfeasance etc can be traced
100% to Remoaners, or Democrats with Trump Delusion Syndrome (although the penny
may be dropping for the Trump fans). The solutions are obvious common sense;
when their side has won politically, and not delivered, it is because a purity
test was failed; if they have failed intellectually/philosophically, it is only
because of the rhetorical manipulative corrupt tricks of the others (which of
course their side would never do).

-5

Peter B
1 day ago

Reply to Dominic A

You’re clearly not reading the same comments I am. There’s a wide range of views
– just as there should be.
I’m sure we’re not all “deplorables” !

Tagged Corruption, Democracy, Don't miss, Europe, European Union, Qatar

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