Last week, two members of Friends of the Earth Malta and Young Friends of the Earth Malta travelled to Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament, for a conference on deregulation organised by Young Friends of the Earth Europe and Milieudefensie Jong – the Dutch Young Friends of the Earth. Members of environmental organisations from twelve European countries, totalling forty-eight people, gathered at a central hostel in the French city for three days to talk about what is this European tendency, and why it should matter to all of us.

What is happening within European institutions

There is an undeniable trend in European policy, officially defined by the terms ‘simplification’ and ‘competitiveness’, that aims at reducing administrative burdens for companies. The result is legislations – or rather, sets of laws approved as packages – that seek to ‘streamline’ existing policies by weakening the structures originally established to protect the environment and civil society. The term that defines this process is deregulation.

This becomes more complicated when one realises that the measures proposed by the Commission and voted on in the European Parliament are influenced by external consultations. However, the parties involved in these external consultations are lobbyists: wealthy business owners or other actors who have particular economic interests. On the other hand, young people – who will have to bear the environmental consequences of today’s decisions throughout their lives – have no official say in the matter.

The Action in front of the European Parliament

For these reasons, on the morning of Wednesday 20th May, the conference participants gathered in front of the European Parliament, smartly dressed and armed with office folders, for a performance that mocked the underhand and informal dealings between lobbyists and other stakeholders. Led by their organisers, the group formed lines displaying the contents of their folders: individual letters arranged to spell out the phrase “We will lobby back”.

Youth power!

Young Friends of the Earth Europe, Young Friends of the Earth Malta, Friends of the Earth Malta, and the other EU Friends of the Earth member groups will not stand by and watch as these rights are dismantled. We must keep in mind who, in reality, will benefit from these longed simplification and competitiveness: not the environment, not the people, and not the youths. We must answer: we will lobby back!