Tell your MEP - S2B pledge on trade, lobbying and the financial crisis

UK Students To Business (S2B) network launched a MEP candidates pledge campaign on trade, lobbying and the financial crisis. The pledge:

Yes, I will... No, I won’t... Provide Leadership in Lobbying Transparency and Ethics

The European public is concerned about the influence of big business lobbyists over EU decision-making. Measures to secure transparency around EU lobbying and to prevent corporate capture of decision-making are urgently needed.

For European democracy to function properly, citizens need to know “who is influencing EU decision making and how much money is involved”. However, the Commission’s voluntary lobbying register is clearly insufficient: most lobbyists have not registered and the register lacks names of individual lobbyists and meaningful information on ‘issues lobbied on’ and ‘how much money is involved’. Other problematic issues of lobby influence on EU politics, such as privileged access to decision makers, have not been addressed.

I pledge that in my role as Member of the European Parliament I will support:

• Replacing the current flawed lobbying register with a mandatory EU lobbying register that includes a list of all individual lobbyists, the legislative dossiers lobbied on and detailed information on the money spent on lobbying per client.
• Ensuring that the Parliament takes all necessary steps to ban conflicts of interest, including barring MEPs from working as lobbyists while in office.
• Securing full transparency around Expert Groups and other groups advising the Commission, and strong safeguards against privileged access and unbalanced composition of Expert Groups.

Yes, I will... No, I won’t... Promote Corporate Accountability

Multinational Enterprises are important players in the global economy and whilst they have the potential to bring benefits to the areas where they work, some also participate in violations of human rights, community rights and environmental law in many countries. These companies’ head office can profit from its subsidiaries’ operations and have substantial control over their actions without being held accountable for any irresponsible conduct or crimes they commit. Victims are unable to get redress for the often devastating impacts. Moreover, the market is distorted by exposing responsible entrepreneurs and small businesses to unfair competition.

I pledge that in my role as Member of the European Parliament I will support:

• The development of a new legal framework for corporate accountability, which will hold companies operating in the EU and their directors legally responsible for the social and environmental consequences of their operations and those of their subsidiaries worldwide.
• Transparency by implementing mandatory environmental and social reporting with accurate, comparable and comprehensive information.
• Legal measures that allow victims of violations of human rights and environmental law by companies operating in the EU the possibility to go to a European court, even if the violation took place outside the EU.

Yes, I will... No, I won’t... Provide Leadership in Reforming the Financial Architecture

I pledge that in my role as Member of the European Parliament I will sign a parliamentary resolution in support of a system reform of the financial architecture and regulation in the interest of European citizens and the environment. Such a reform would have to include among others:

• The development of legislation that obliges all corporations, including banks, to report on a country by country basis all their transactions and balance sheet figures, in order to increase transparency, curb tax avoidance and tax evasion and fight corruption.
• The development of legislation which introduces strong regulation over investment funds (in particular hedge funds and private equity funds) as well as the establishment of a supervisory body (that would e.g. ban speculation on food commodities and curb tax evasion).
• The introduction of taxes on financial transactions and corporate profits to equilibrate income distribution and to support the financing of global public goods such as education, health and the ecological conversion of the economy.

Moreover, I will demand the establishment of a European Parliamentary Committee to work out proposals for a revised mandate and democratic control of the European Central Bank (ECB), of the Maastricht treaty and of the banking regulation.

Yes, I will... No, I won’t... Promote a Full-Scale Rethink of the EU Trade Policy

The European Union is currently negotiating trade deals with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America which will secure big profits for European companies at the expense of people and the environment, albeit the EU trade policy should prioritise development, gender, social and environmental justice and human rights.

I pledge that in my role as Member of the European Parliament I will:

• Urge the Trade Commissioner and the President of the European Commission to immediately stop the implementation of the Global Europe strategy, including a moratorium on the conclusion of bilateral and regional free trade agreements.
• Support a cross-committee investigation and stakeholder consultation process of the impacts of EU trade policies on development, social, environmental, human and women’s rights, in Europe as well as in third countries.
• Sign a resolution in the European Parliament advising a stop of the WTO’s Doha Round and calling for a democratic reform of the international trading system and its “rules of the game”.
• Demand an international assessment of the responsibility of trade and financial liberalisation in the global financial and economic meltdown, the global food crisis and the climate crisis.

Candidate for MEP

__________________________ _____________________________________________ Name Country / Party / Constituency

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Date Signature

Please return this pledge to...

Daniel Pentzlin daniel.pentzlin@foeeurope.org

Friends of the Earth Europe Fax: +32-2-5375596
15 Rue Blanche
1050 Ixelles, Bruxelles
Belgium