Today, Friends of the Earth Malta is launching a major, pan-European campaign which urges candidates in the European elections to “stand-up for citizens and democracy against the excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business”.

Martin Galea De Giovanni from Friends of the Earth Malta says: “Right now there is a major problem with lobbying in the European institutions. Too many of the policies and laws which come from Brussels to Malta have the finger prints of big business lobbyists all over them. Instead, we need MEPs who will make laws which support citizens and the public interest.”

“It is essential that we tackle the problem of corporate lobbying in Brussels. In the past few years we have seen the processed food industry defeat proposals for health labels on packaging; the big banks avoid effective regulation after the financial crisis; internet firms water-down data privacy laws; and EU trade deals (like the current EU-US deal) consistently put profits before people. It is vital that we have MEPs who will stand-up against this excessive lobbying influence of banks and big business.”

“We hope that candidates from many different political parties will join our campaign, sign our pledge and agree to take strong action, if they are elected, to tackle the power of lobbyists in European decision-making. Voters could then use this information to help them to decide how to vote in May.”

“Since the launch of this campaign we are looking for local candidates to join MEPs from other EU countries who have already pledged their support. We also encourage all Maltese citizens to visit our website and email their Euro candidates to ask them to take the pledge.”

The Politics for People campaign is being co-organised with the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) [1] and already involves organisations from over half of EU member states.

Notes for editors:

[1] ALTER-EU is a coalition of about 200 civil society groups, trade unions, academics and public affairs firms campaigning against the increasing influence exerted by corporate lobbyists on the political agenda in Europe.