Europe Inc. Regional and global restructuring and the rise of corporate power

Book abstract:

This book is a collective undertaking by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a research and campaign group based in Amsterdam, that exposes the threats to democracy, equality, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power exercised by corporations and their lobby groups. The group aims to spark debate on the disproportionate influence that it sees corporations having on EU politics and the resulting biased nature of EU treaties and policies. The book is a product of over six years of increasingly intensive investigation into the activities of corporate lobby groups. In May 1997, a month before the crucial EU summit in Amsterdam, the CEO published a 72 page report, Europe, Inc.: dangerous liaisons between EU Institutions and Industry. The report examined the major corporate actors in Europe and provided information about their overall strategies and successes, as well as their specific activities around the negotiations in the treaty revision process. This book is an updated and significantly expanded version of that 1997 report. It focuses on corporate influence on EU policies, but also deals with increasing corporate power within other international institutions such as the OECD, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.

The first section Corporate Europe, provides an introduction to the major corporate lobby groups in the EU, and describes how they have contributed to the current neoliberal character of EU legislation and policies. It also includes case studies on corporate influence upon transport and biotechnology policies. The second section, Going Global, describes the EU's role in promoting economic globalisation, examining the liaisons between corporate lobby groups and the most powerful governments and blocs, such as the EU, and their combined influence over key economic globalisation institutions. In section three, Planet Inc., the most important corporate groupings operating on a global level are introduced. The final part, Challenging Corporate Power, concludes with a number of recommendations for how corporate political and economic power can be rolled back in order to create space for progressive policies and for the democratisation of our societies. Among the useful appendices are ERT members and their companies, notes, an index and a set of resources listing recommended organisations' names, addresses and websites, magazines and periodicals and some industry lobby sites.