Brussels warns the Netherlands about airline vouchers, reasserts passenger rights

DutchNews, May 13, 2020 

Margrethe Vestager during the press conference. Photo: Xavier Lejeune EC
Audiovisual Service 

EU nationals are entitled to cash refunds if flights and ferry crossings are cancelled because of coronavirus, and countries such as the Netherlands which do not support this are being written to, the European Commission confirmed on Wednesday. 

At the end of April, Dutch infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said the Netherlands is turning a blind eye to the cash back requirement, even though the vouchers are only valid for a year and passengers could be left with nothing if the airline goes bust. 

During a news conference to mark the publication of a package of guidelines for a return to safe travel and tourism this year, commission vice president Margrethe Vestager said that ‘European consumers have a right to a cash refund, if that is what they want.’ 

‘Letters are being sent as we speak to member states which are in breach of this fundamental right,’ Vestager said. Some 11 other EU countries are thought to be following the Dutch position. Later it transpired the letters are ‘aimed at reminding member states about the rules’ rather than the start of any legal proceedings. 

The package of measures aimed at starting tourism up again within Europe include recommendations on how to make the vouchers more attractive. ‘Many companies have problems and this liquidity crunch would be less severe if customers accepted vouchers instead of cash refunds,’ Vestager said. 

To this end, the commission suggests vouchers be protected against the airline going bankrupt, be valid for a minimum of 12 months, and be refundable after at most one year, if not redeemed. 

They should also give passengers sufficient flexibility, allow them to travel under the same conditions, and be transferable. 

Van Nieuwenhuizen said in April she had decided to turn a blind eye to airlines breaking the rules to protect their financial position. Nevertheless, the minister said she would like the aviation sector to make the vouchers as attractive as possible, by being more flexible about the conditions and allowing them to be transferred to other passengers. 

Alexandre de Juniac, head of the international airline body IATA, said in a reaction that the commission’s recommendations are ‘quite frankly, are not helpful to airlines are consumers. Both need clarity.’ 

Every traveler must be treated fairly and given what they are owed, he said. But at the same time, there needs to be a harmonised approach to reimbursements and vouchers ‘through a temporary and clearly drafted adjustment of the current passenger rights framework’.

EU court says Israel settlement goods must be labelled

Yahoo – AFP, Damon WAKE, November 12, 2019

France published guidelines in 2016 saying products from Israeli settlements in the
West Bank and Golan Heights must carry labels making their precise origin
clear (AFP Photo/HAZEM BADER)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court ruled Tuesday that food products from occupied Palestinian territories must be labelled as such, drawing an angry response from Israel which slammed a "double standard".

The European Court of Justice said that under EU rules on food labelling, it must be clear where products are from -- particularly if they come from Israeli settlements.

That way, it said, consumers can make choices based on "ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".

The ECJ ruling effectively backs the EU guidelines issued in 2015 on labelling goods from Israeli-occupied areas, which also prompted a furious response. At the time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared them to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.

The Luxembourg-based court ruled after France's top tribunal asked for clarification of rules on labelling goods from the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied Palestinian land, as well as the Golan Heights, which Israel took from Syria in 1967.

"Foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the State of Israel must bear the indication of their territory of origin, accompanied, where those foodstuffs come from an Israeli settlement within that territory, by the indication of that provenance," said an ECJ statement announcing its decision.

France published guidelines in 2016 saying products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights must carry labels making their precise origin clear.

This was challenged by the Organisation Juive Europeene (European Jewish Organisation) and Psagot, a company that runs vineyards in occupied territories.

Israel's foreign ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying it "strongly rejects" the ruling.

"The ruling's entire objective is to single out and apply a double standard against Israel," it said.

"There are over 200 ongoing territorial disputes across the world, yet the (European Court of Justice) has not rendered a single ruling related to the labelling of products originating from these territories."

But a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, insisted the ruling "does not concern products from Israel itself". It would not affect the privileged trading status the Jewish state has under its association agreement with the bloc, she added.

"The EU does not support any form of boycott or sanctions against Israel and the EU rejects attempts by the campaigns of the so-called Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to isolate Israel," spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said.

Elsewhere, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the ruling but urged the EU to go further.

"Our demand is not only for the correct labelling reflecting the certificate of origin of products coming from illegal colonial settlements, but for the banning of those products from international markets."

'Ethical considerations'

The court said that labelling products as from the "State of Israel" when in fact they come from "territories... occupied by that State" could mislead consumers.

The court added that EU regulations on labelling the origin of goods were intended to allow consumers to make "informed choices" -- not just on health, economic, environmental and social grounds, "but also to ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".

"Such considerations could influence consumers' purchasing decisions," the ECJ said.

On the issue of Israeli settlements, the court said "they give concrete expression to a policy of population transfer conducted by that State outside its territory, in violation of the rules of general international humanitarian law".

Consumers might be misled if it was not made clear that products originated in these settlements, the court added.

But Francois-Henri Briard, the lawyer for Psagot, condemned the ruling, saying it catered to "political prejudices".

"If such labelling is applied to Israeli products, surely it will also need to be applied to scores of other countries around the world who could be argued to be in violation of international law," he said in a statement.

Francois Kalifat of the CRIF umbrella association of French Jewish groups called the ruling "discriminatory and intolerable".

He said it would strengthen the BDS movement, which calls for a broad-ranging boycott of Israel over its treatment of the Palestinians.

HSBC to pay $765m US fine over crisis-era conduct

Yahoo – AFP, Roland JACKSON with Elaine YU in Hong Kong, 6 August 2018

HSBC said it is hiring 'more frontline staff' in its strongest businesses after an
overhaul that saw 50,000 jobs axed

Britain's Asia-focused bank HSBC on Monday revealed a $765-million US fine over the lender's actions in the run-up to the subprime crisis, as it also logged rising first-half profits.

HSBC said it has agreed to pay the large US penalty over its conduct in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), a type of investment derivative that bundled home loans into securities and was sold to investors before the 2008 financial meltdown.

"HSBC reached a settlement-in-principle to resolve the Department of Justice's civil claims relating to its investigation of HSBC's legacy RMBS origination and securitisation activities from 2005 to 2007," the lender announced in a results statement.

"Under the terms of the settlement, HSBC will pay the DoJ a civil money penalty of $765 million."

The London-headquartered giant is the latest global bank to reach a US settlement over conduct in the run-up to the notorious subprime crisis which sparked a worldwide recession.

However, the deal was agreed in July and therefore was not included in HSBC's first half results, which cover the six months to June.

Brexit, trade war headwinds

HSBC posted advancing first-half profits and expressed optimism over the outlook -- despite headwinds from rising costs, the China-US trade war and Brexit.

Pre-tax profit rose almost five percent to $10.7 billion in the six months to the end of June compared with a year earlier.

Net profit or earnings after taxation gained 2.5 percent to $7.173 billion, boosted by high-growth markets -- particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

"We haven't yet seen any impact on our business or through our customers," chief executive John Flint told reporters when asked about the impact of the China-US trade spat.

"It's still too early to tell and in terms of estimating potential impact it's difficult because we don’t quite know what the substance of the trade war will be.

"We've got some tariffs in place and some coming, but the full impact is very difficult to estimate.

"It is possible that it will shave China's GDP growth by a modest amount but (it is) too early too start predicting."

Turning to Britain's looming departure from the European Union next year, the bank chief stressed that its cost estimate for a so-called hard Brexit remained unchanged.

The lender had warned late last year that a chaotic Brexit could cost it up to $300 million.

It had also outlined tentative plans to switch 1,000 jobs to Paris from London owing to Britain's departure from the European Union due in 2019.

"Our role has been to ensure that we are in a position to secure customers' ... needs across the UK, Europe and the network that we serve in 67 markets across the world," added Flint on Monday.

"Our planning from the outset has been based on what is euphemistically called a hard Brexit, and therefore the cost guidance that we have given in that regard remains absolutely consistent with what we have talked about in the past."

Costs outpace revenues

Revenues were up four percent at $27.3 billion in the reporting period -- but operating expenses grew seven percent to $17.5 billion.

In late morning deals, HSBC shares fell 0.53 percent to 712 pence on London's rising FTSE 100 index.

"The market has reacted cautiously to the numbers ... because the group reported costs rising significantly faster than income," noted Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Steve Clayton.

After wide-ranging cutbacks that saw 50,000 jobs axed in an overhaul announced in 2015, the bank added on Monday that it was now hiring again as it seeks new growth areas.

Flint said in June that he plans to invest $15-17 billion primarily in growth and technology projects, with a particular focus on accelerating growth in Asia.

HSBC, founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865, sees its focus firmly in Asia, although it has been based in Britain since 1992.

EU judges offer no 'break' to Kit Kat trademark war

Yahoo – AFP, 25 July 2018

The European Court of Justice ordered the EU's intellectual property office to
consider its trademark recognition of Nestle's iconic Kit Kat chocolate bar

The European Union's top court on Wednesday ordered the EU's intellectual property office to "reconsider" Kit Kat's bloc-wide trademark, prolonging Nestle's decade-long battle to claim exclusive rights over the chocolate bar's distinctive shape.

Nestle has been locked in a blockbuster legal war with US rival Mondelez, maker of Cadbury chocolate, over the four-fingered wafer biscuit which was first sold in 1935.

In a closely watched case, the European Court of Justice said the EU's intellectual property office must go back to the drawing board and revisit its 2006 to decision to grant Kit Kat an EU trade mark based on its shape.

But in a break for Nestle, the Luxembourg-based ECJ did not cancel the trade mark outright, as suggested by the court's top advisor in April, with the EU intellectual property office now tasked to re-visit the basis for awarding the trademark.

"Today no one has won, no one has lost. Nestle has saved time because its brand remains registered for the time being," a court source told AFP.

"But Nestle did lose a battle as it would have preferred a full confirmation of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) decision," the source added.

The EU's intellectual property office allowed Nestle in 2006 to trademark what the court calls the "three-dimensional shape of the 'Kit Kat 4 fingers' product".

This trademark has helped keep copycat candy-bars out of grocery stores, and punished the development of similar treats owned by Mondelez, including the Norwegian favourite Kvikk Lunsj, a Kit Kat doppelganger.

The EU's intellectual property office "must reconsider whether the three-dimensional shape of a '4 Finger KitKat' can be retained as an EU trade mark," a court statement said.

At issue is that the food giant specifically failed to provide evidence that the Kit Kat shape was well enough known in Belgium, Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

A lower EU court "was right to annul the EU's intellectual property office decision, in which it concluded that distinctive character had been acquired" without including those countries in the case, a statement said.

The trade mark criteria "must be shown throughout the EU," it said.

Nestle has already lost a legal bid in Britain -- currently an EU member state but set to leave next year -- to trademark the Kit Kat shape.

"Today?s judgment is not final," a Nestle spokesperson said in an email.

"We think the evidence proves that the familiar shape of our iconic four finger KitKat is distinctive enough to be registered as an EU Trademark," Nestle added.

The European Court of Justice ordered the EU's intellectual property office to consider its trademark recognition of Nestle's iconic Kit Kat chocolate bar

Ryanair warns Dutch passengers to claim compensation directly

DutchNews, July 24, 2018

Photo: Ryanair.com

Budget airline Ryanair has written to a Dutch organisation which helps passengers claim compensation for delays saying it is disturbing ‘the good relationship with passengers,’ according to broadcaster NOS. 

The letter calls on EUclaim to stop putting in claims on behalf of passengers who face delays or whose flights have been cancelled. Some 700 Dutch nationals submitted claims via the bureau last week after their flights were cancelled or delayed following strikes by Ryanair staff, NOS said. 

In the letter, Ryanair asks the organisation to advise passengers to get in touch with the airline directly. If it does not, the airline says it will ‘take all necessary measures’ to protect the contractual relationship with its passengers. 

Ryanair has a claim formula on its website and states that all claims will be dealt with within 10 days. 

However, EUclaim, which charges 29% of any payout plus a 26 admin fee per person, says passengers tend to turn to it for help after being turned down by Ryanair. 

A spokesman for the Dutch consumers organisation Consumentenbond, which according to NOS works together with EUclaim, says the Ryanair letter is ‘shocking’. ‘We know that it is often very difficult for consumers to get justice,’ a spokesman told the broadcaster. 

Under EU law, airline passengers are entitled to compensation if their flight has been delayed for more than three hours, ‘if the airline cannot prove that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided by reasonable measures.’

New ‘Basel 4’ capital requirements for banks will impact Dutch mortgages

DutchNews, December 8, 2017

New capital requirements for banks, known as Basel 4, will have a major impact on the Dutch financial services sector, Dutch media said on Friday. 

The European central bank declared on Thursday that agreement had been reached reviewing the post crisis Basel 3 regulations. Basel 3 required the banks to add equity to their balance sheets and Basel 4, as the revisions are know, will further add to the requirements. 

According to the Dutch central bank in the Financieele Dagblad, the Dutch banks are a combined  €14bn short of meeting the new capital requirements. That means banks will be more restricted in what they can do and what risks they are prepared to take. 

‘It will have a major impact,’ central bank official Paul Hilbers, one of the two Dutch negotiators, told the FD ‘You have to compare it with the average combined annual profits of €6bn posted by all the large banks in the last few years.’ 

Rabobank chief financial officer Bas Brouwers is quoted as describing the new rules as ‘absurd and irrational’ by the Volkskrant. 

Mortgages

In particular, Basel 4 is likely to have an impact on the Dutch mortgage system by reducing the amount people can borrow – the loan to value ratio – because banks will have to further minimise their risks. The ltv Dutch rate, now 100%, is one of the most generous in Europe.

However, as the new rules won’t come into effect until 2020, and will be phased in over five years, the impact is likely to be muted, the Volkskrant said. 

Nevertheless, from January, home buyers will only be able to borrow up to 100% of the value of their home, but the Dutch market regulators – the central bank and AFM – want this to be reduced to 90%, further reducing the risk to banks. 

Such a change, which is politically highly sensitive, would require first time buyers to bring in some €25,000 in cash to buy a home, the paper said.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Fish finger fighting fund to aid EU food crackdown

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Sep 2017

Fish finger fighting fund to aid EU food crackdown

Brussels (AFP) - The EU unveiled plans Tuesday to crack down on food makers selling poor quality versions of products including Coca-Cola, Nutella and fish fingers in different parts of the bloc, particularly in eastern Europe.

Eastern member countries have complained bitterly of "food apartheid" or being treated as "Europe's garbage can" by manufacturers who use the same label for everyday goods that are of far lower standards than in the west.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm and watchdog, will give member states one million euros to help improve tests for comparing products to detect differences in quality.

"These products are presented in exactly the same packaging but for instance the coffee contains less caffeine and more sugar, fish fingers contain less meat in one country than another," EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Vera Jourova told a news conference.

"So when I say I take this issue very seriously I mean it," she added.

The plans also include making sure EU states are fully aware of the way to enforce the bloc's food rules.

The steps unveiled on Tuesday came after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a keynote speech earlier this month that "there can be no second class consumers" in the EU.

"Slovaks do not deserve less fish in their fish fingers. Hungarians less meat in their meals. Czechs less cacao in their chocolate. EU law outlaws such practices already," Juncker said.

Jourova held back from "naming and shaming" the products but said she was waiting for evidence of cheating.

Asked which EU country had the worst fish fingers, she added: "There was an alarmingly low percentage of meat in my country, the Czech Republic, but it can be the case also in some others."

In February Hungary's food safety authority said many food products sold with identical packaging were superior in neighbouring Austria.

Among a list of discrepancies, the agency said the version of Nutella, the children's favourite chocolate-and-hazelnut spread from Ferrero, appeared to be "less creamy" than the Austrian version.

The aroma of Coca-Cola was seemingly "less rich, less complex" in Hungary, the agency said, while the flavour of Nestle's Nesquik cocoa powder was "more harmonious and intense" in Austria.

ABN Amro to fund its online banking unit MoneYou for expansion

DutchNews, March 7, 2017

ABN Amro is to provide additional funding to expand its digital banking subsidiary MoneYou, the Financieele Dagblad said on Tuesday. 

The state-owned bank hopes to attract hundreds of thousands of new clients throughout Europe to add to its present customer base of 500,000, which is largely in the Netherlands.

‘We plan to make MoneYou into an online bank of European proportions,’  said Frank Verkerk, who as chief digital officer at ABN Amro is partly responsible for MoneYou. The online unit was mentioned only once in the bank’s last 80-page quarterly report. 

In eight years, MoneYou has accumulated 500,000 customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria with a total of €20bn in deposits. This represents about 25% of the savings deposited with ABN Amro itself, the FD said.

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No exceptions to cosmetics animal testing ban: top EU court

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2016

The European Court of Justice said EU law bars any cosmetic product containing
 ingredients which have been tested on animals, wherever that may occur (AFP
Photo/Emmanuel Dunand)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court on Wednesday ruled that there can be no exceptions to a ban on animal testing by cosmetics manufacturers in the bloc.

The case arose in Britain after three companies sought to market cosmetics that were developed for sale in China and Japan using animal tests outside the European Union.

The European Court of Justice said EU law bars any cosmetic product containing ingredients which have been tested on animals, wherever that may occur.

"The Court states next that EU law makes no distinction depending on where the animal testing was carried out," the Luxembourg-based ECJ said in a statement.

The law aims to promote the use of alternative methods to meet consumer safety standards and that "objective would be seriously compromised if the prohibitions... could be circumvented by carrying out the animal testing in third countries," it said.

The European Federation for Cosmetic Ingredients (EFCI), which brought the case, had argued that the companies did not break the law since the animal testing had been carried out to comply with regulations in third countries.

Dutch lorry maker DAF fined €753m for cartel forming over 14 years

DutchNews, July 19, 2016

Photo: Alf van Beem via
Wikimedia Commons 

The European Commission has fined a group of truck manufacturers, including Dutch firm DAF, a total of €2.93bn for operating as an illegal cartel for 14 years. 

The commission said in a statement that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF had broken EU antitrust rules by colluding on truck pricing and on passing on the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules. The cartel operated between 1997 and 2011, the commission said. 

Eindhoven-based DAF was given the second biggest fine of nearly €753m. 

MAN was not fined as it revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission. All companies acknowledged their involvement in the cartel and agreed to settle the case.

‘It is not acceptable that MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF, which together account for around nine out of every 10 medium and heavy trucks produced in Europe, were part of a cartel instead of competing with each other,’ competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. 

DAF has been part of American listed industrial group PACCAR since 1996.

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Leaked papers allege US pressuring EU over TTIP free trade deal

German media say secret documents reveal the US has pressured the EU to approve a transatlantic free trade deal. The reports say Washington may block easier car exports if the EU doesn't open up its agricultural market.

Deutsche Welle, 2 May 2016

German media say 240 pages of text from secret transatlantic free trade talks obtained by Greenpeace show that the US is pressuring the EU.

Washington was blocking European car exports into the US to force the 508-million-population EU to buy more environmentally risky US farm produce, claimed the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ) newspaper and two German public television channels.

Greenpeace said it would publish the material later on Monday, contrary to strict secrecy maintained by US and EU negotiating teams during three years of talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The TTIP is unpopular in Germany. On the eve of US President Barack Obama's visit to a major Hanover trade exhibition last week, tens of thousands of opponents demonstrated.

Documents seem authentic

The German news agency DPA said persons close to the talks had confirmed the authenticity of the documents. Accessibility so far has been strictly limited.

By blocking an easing of car exports into the US, Washington wanted the EU to replace its precautionary consumer safety principle with the liberal US approach of permitting foodstuffs until risks are proven, said the media outlets, including the ARD network's channels NDR and WDR.

The EU's principle that goods must first be certified as safe has often been cited by the EU to constrain imports of American gene-manipulated and hormone-treated produce.

TTIP opponents rallied as Obama headed to Hannover

Public arbitration panels blocked

The German outlets said the documents disclosed by Greenpeace also showed that the US was blocking an EU demand that arbitration panels to handle corporate lawsuits be public not private as sought by Washington.

Greenpeace trade expert Jürgen Knirsch said what had so far trickled out of the talks had "sounded like a nightmare."

"Now we know that this could very much become reality," said Knirsch.

The head of Germany's consumer advisory bureaus Klaus Müller told the SZ that the texts confirmed "pretty much all of our fears in terms of what the US-Americans want to achieve on the food produce market through TTIP."

Merkel and Obama called for 'urgency' on TTIP

Urgency sought by Obama, Merkel

Visiting Hanover last week, US President Barack Obama together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for urgency at the TTIP negotiations.

Obama said he hoped it would the talks would be concluded in 2017, beyond the next US presidential election due in November this year.

Last Friday in New York, the lead US and EU negotiators - US Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney and the European Commission's Ignacio Garcia Bercera - said they hoped to reach a deal before Obama leaves office in January.

ipj/jr (dpa, AFP, Reuters)

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place behind closed doors

Volkswagen scandal puts EU lobbying under spotlight

Yahoo – AFP, Marine Laouchez and Alex Pigman, 2 Oct 2015

Volkswagen has admitted 11 million of its vehicles worldwide are equipped with 

software that dupes pollution emission testing (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Brussels (AFP) - Scandal-hit Volkswagen has for years hired a cadre of lobbyists in the EU capital of Brussels who work intensely behind-the-scenes to influence policy and secure European regulation with a lighter touch.

Activists have long warned of the power of lobbying in Brussels, with German automakers the most powerful in the industry, although French, Japanese and US auto manufacturers also push hard.

The auto lobby is second only to the financial industry in the hallways of EU power as reported to the European Union's transparency registry.

Activists have long warned of the

 power of lobbying at the EU, with the

 auto lobby second only to the financial

 industry in the hallways of EU power as

 reported to the European Union's

 transparency registry  (AFP Photo/

John Thys)

That official list is considered a low estimate but in it, Volkswagen hires 43 full-time lobbyists who work to protect its interests.

"It's impossible to estimate how many there are," said Jos Dings, head of the non-governmental group Transport and Environment.

Though lobbying is perfectly legal, the thousands of lobbyists in Brussels often work "under the radar", he said.

The car industry annually spends about "20 million euros ($22.3 million), with half of that from the big German players: Volkswagen, Daimler and Opel," said Pascoe Sabido, of lobby watchdog the Corporate European Observatory.

These lobbyists solicit the European Commission at all levels, from commissioners and their chiefs of staff to the estimated 700 expert groups that guide EU policy at the most detailed level.

'Starts early'

"It all starts very early," said Dings. "The Commission starts a strategy process, say on climate change or air pollution. This is where the lobbying starts, long before there is any regulation."

At first, he said corporate lobbyists fight for the Commission to do nothing.

"But if by sheer luck, the Commission decides to regulate, the next stage comes: it becomes delay and weaken," Dings said.

All new regulation emerges from expert groups: incubators for European laws that once passed will deeply impact the lives of the EU's 500 million citizens.

"The Commission is quite small in terms of staff, about the same as city hall in Paris, so they look for experts outside," said Sabido.

"This becomes a very nice opportunity for lobbyists," he said, adding that VW sits on four or five such groups.

Long exposure view of the Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, central 

Germany, at night on September 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/John MacDougall)

Under EU rules, NGOs and stakeholders also participate in expert groups, but their influence is much weaker.

"We have four people who have to follow the entire automotive file," said Dings.

"We have to be selective, in quite a few we are not represented at all," he said.

'Guess who?'

Bas Eickhout, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, described a process rife with the potential for conflict of interest.

He hoped the VW scandal was "opening eyes".

In later stage technical groups "it's the national experts who sit around the table and also, guess who?, the car industry," he said.

"There is a huge grey zone: are they at the table to provide information or to participate in the decision-making? The technical information and the political decision making are happening at the same time," he said.

Here even diplomats from the EU's 28 member countries can do the bidding of big companies.

In documents leaked to AFP last week, Germany is seen to lobby hard to maintain European pollution tests that are widely considered ineffective.

Even the industry's allies in the European Parliament acknowledge that the influence of auto giants may have reached the limits of acceptability.

A measuring hose for emissions inspections in diesel engines sticks in the exhaust 

tube of a Volkswagen (VW) Golf 2,0 TDI diesel car at a garage in Frankfurt an der

Oder, eastern Germany, on October 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Patrick Pleul))

"I am aware that the car industry in Europe and in Germany is very important..., but it doesn't mean we have to accept everything they propose," said MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz from the right of centre EPP group that is traditionally close to big industry.

"They do a good job, they convince a lot of members," he said.

However, they also "never lie", he added.

For the car lobby, what they are fighting is competition from Asia, where they feel looser pollution laws bring bigger profits, threatening European jobs.

A new EU pollution test to be implemented next year, "makes Europe the only region in the world to implement such real world testing for cars," the powerful ACEA lobby said after the VW scandal broke.

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) would "continue to engage with the European Commission and national governments" to "ensure trust" in the auto industry, it added.

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