Corporations should not be allowed to lobby
Nah, I’d say everyone should be able to voice their concerns to policymakers.
What should be banned are secret private dinners etc.
Lobbying should be 100% public record, who met with whom, when, where, and what did they say?
Full schedule and transcript of every lobby meeting should be public.
If they don’t comply with the law, Amazon itself should be banned, not from lobbying but from doing business here.
I’d rather they temporarily revoke lobbying access to all "questionable " groups, unless they prove beyond doubt they are trustworthy and abide to EU law.
or maybe, you know, remove lobbying in its entirety, because private money shouldn’t undermine democracy
remove lobbying in its entirety, because private money.
Lobbying is not necessarily private money. It’s all kind of groups. Interest groups, like safe the bird, frog or either Lhbt +, workersrights groups etc etc
Maybe it’s a question of definition but interest groups do lobby in fact. But not all lobbyist are ofc interest groups.
Though, in theory, German carmakers could be both at the same time imo. It’s not always clear how and when to draw the line
Add; In cases like Amazon & Huawei, and the toxic influencing of some extreme ( foreign and/or domestic) organisations, there is however NO DOUBT, that they don’t want to abide to EU law. So fuck them!
There are good lobbyists. Organizations like Amnesty International, the ACLU, and more have lobbyists.
Sometimes it’s appropriate to have professionals whose job it is to communicate with legislators on behalf of a group of people.
It would be kind of weird if the ACLU ( American Civil Rights Union) would lobby the European Parliament. But hell, who knows, maybe in 2076? (Unfortunately, The MAGA American Heritage Foundation does seem to lobby in the EU)
Though I’d prefer if the US would stand up for it’s own civil rights tbh. In the early 18/19th century USA stood as a great example for civil rights in the world, back when Europe was ruled by Kings & Queens.
add:
A Frenchie, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote “Democracy in America”, published in 1835, of the New World and its burgeoning democratic order.It was an example of a lobby group that serves a legitimate purpose.
Lobbyists can exist and cause harm or benefit in more than one place.
I know, it it was a joke and jab. And if you did too, you have to admit you should’ve used better example in this context. No humor?
It‘s infuriating to know that many members of the EU parliament only enter the building once a day to collect their paycheck and then immediately meet up with a lobbyist to be invited for lunch. That‘s their actual daily routine. Insanity.
If this passes, make it permanent
inb4 this idea being lobbied out of existence :(
EDIT: it is a great idea though!
hi, I just came out of my cave, what’s this about? Lost track with the world for 5d already
Amazon has been trying for many years to introduce American style working practices into the EU, disobeying laws on anti Union activities, maximum working hours directives, minimum holiday entitlement rules etc etc etc etc.
They got banned from directly lobbying the EU Parliament on the grounds of repeat offending and showing contempt for EU law and workers’ rights. If you don’t follow the rules, you don’t get a say in what the rules are.
It’s in Amazon’s interest to weaken EU workers’ rights generally because they’ll get fined less and can still be competitive in the jobs marketplace with even worse pay and conditions if working conditions weren’t so generally high in the EU compared to the US.
They’ve resorted to going via third parties who might also get banned as a result.
omg… that is so evil, thanks David for clarifying
