Europe Inc -New Edition Regional and Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power

by Balanya, Belen; Doherty, Ann; Hoedeman, Olivier; Ma'anit, Adam

• ISBN13: 9780745321639
• ISBN10: 0745321631
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

Over the past two decades, the major international corporations have become industrial lobbyists within the European Union to such an extent that they pose a threat to democracy. This new and fully revised edition of Europe Inc. provides a much-needed insight into the systematic ways in which transnational corporations work through lobby groups to shape EU policy. With a new introduction, updated statistics and new resources, it's an invaluable handbook for anyone interested in the EU and the political power that corporations wield.The authors cover the major players in this anti-democratic practice and analyse the factors that have enabled corporate influence in Europe to dominate. They examine how governments have been persuaded to increase competitiveness by dismantling and privatising public services, deregulating industry, and dismantling social and environmental protections; the increasing influence of corporate lobby groups on decision makers and the corresponding lack of voice given to small business, organised labour and individual citizens; the impact of the single market and currency; structural adjustment in Eastern Europe; the role of European industrial lobby groups within the WTO, and the important Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Case studies include the biotech industry, the public relations industry and the UN climate summit.

Author Biography

The authors are all working with the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in Amsterdam. CEO is a research and campaign group targeting the threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment posed by the economic and political power of corporations and their lobby groups.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	vii
Foreword	x
George Monbiot
Preface	xi
Introduction to the New Edition	xvi
I. Corporate Europe
Welcome to Corporate Europe	3	(8)
Laying the Foundations: European PR Agencies and Think-Tanks	11	(8)
Writing the Script: The European Roundtable of Industrialists	19	(18)
UNICE: Industry's Well-oiled Lobby Machine	37	(8)
AmCham Chimes in with the Brussels Corporate Choir	45	(4)
Polishing the EMU: The Association for the Monetary Union of Europe	49	(9)
Doing Business in Amsterdam: The ERT, UNICE and the Treaty of Amsterdam	58	(10)
Oiling the Wheels: Lobbying for European Transport Infrastructure	68	(11)
Forcefeeding Europe: The Biotech Lobby	79	(12)
II. Going Global
Globalisation: Corporate-led, EU-fed	91	(6)
The Transatlantic Connection	97	(12)
MAIgalomania: The Global Corporate Investment Agenda and the Citizens' Movement Opposing It	109	(14)
The WTO Millennium Bug: Corporate Control over Global Trade Politics	123	(20)
III. Planet Inc.
Landing on Planet Inc.	143	(2)
Global Elite Meetings: The Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the World Economic Forum	145	(5)
Exploiting Sustainability: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development	150	(5)
The Weather Gods: Corporations Profit from Climate Change	155	(11)
The Corporate Cooptation of the United Nations	166	(11)
IV. Challenging Corporate Power
Challenging Corporate Power	177	(43)
V. Appendices
1. Navigating the Brussels Labyrinth: The European Union and its Institutions	187	(4)
2. A Condensed History of the EU	191	(2)
3. ERT Members and their Companies	193	(12)
4. Resorces	205	(15)
Notes	220	(31)
Index	251