[Nettime-nl] The winner of the Worst EU Lobbying Award 2005 is?

[rini@paradigmshift.nl <rini@paradigmshift.nl>]

m. vr. gr.

rini hartman


The ?Campaign for Creativity? (C4C) is the undisputed winner of the Worst
EU
Lobbying Award 2005! No less than 85% of the over 8000 people that took
part in
the online voting identified C4C as the most deceptive corporate lobby
campaign
of the year. C4C presents itself as a grass roots campaign for software
patents
but is in fact run by public affairs consultancy Campbell Gentry in
London, with
undisclosed financial support from Microsoft and other software
multinationals.

In a fax to CEO, C4C coordinator Simon Gentry explained he regretted not
to be
able to attend the award ceremony in Brussels Wednesday evening. Mr.
Gentry
argued that his busy schedule forces him to concentrate on paying clients,
repeating the claim that his work for C4C is voluntary and unpaid. Also
runner-up European Partners for Energy and the Environment (EPEE)
declined the
invitation to attend the award ceremony. ExxonMobil never replied. Both
ExxonMobil and EPEE have been nominated for their use of deceptive
tactics to
undermine EU efforts to halt climate change.

The final voting figures, Mr. Gentry?s response as well as photos and
video from
the award ceremony will be available soon on http://www.eulobbyaward.org
The
website also includes extensive information on each of the ten nominees.

The 'Worst EU Lobbying' Awards are organised by Corporate Europe
Observatory in
association with Friends of the Earth Europe, Lobby Control and
Spinwatch; four
organisations campaigning for an end to secrecy around lobbying in
Brussels.


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Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), is a European-based 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.

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
De Wittenstraat 25
1052 AK Amsterdam
Netherlands
tel/fax: +31-20-612-7023
e-mail: ceo@corporateeurope.org
http://www.corporateeurope.org
http://www.waterjustice.org
http://www.gatswatch.org
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