The undeclared EU Commission meetings: Lobbying over croissants and coffee - TruePublica
The undeclared EU Commission meetings: Lobbying over croissants and coffee
You have probably never heard of AMISA2. But it turns out that AMISA2
and its predecessor AMISA have had staggeringly regular high-level
access to senior EU decision-makers for decades. It is a quiet but
persistent presence operating in the shadows of the Brussels bubble.
What does AMISA stand for? We don’t know.
What does the website say? Er, there isn’t one.
Who are the members? Well, they are not listed on its lobby register declaration, but according to its president, they include the likes of ExxonMobil, Total, Dow and Google.
How many times has it met with senior Commission officials? At least
180 times since the 1990s! But shockingly, none of the five meetings
held with AMISA2 between December 2014 and January 2016 by senior
Commission officials has been publicly declared as required by the
rules.
So what do we know about AMISA2?
Background
Brodach sent a list of the breakfast meetings held
and the speakers; the list dates back to 1994 and comprised a massive
293 meetings in total. Generally, these were with senior level officials
(cabinet members, directors-general or their deputies), but other
familiar names crop up too. Connie Hedegaard, previous commissioner for
climate action, has addressed an AMISA2 breakfast, as have the US
ambassador to the EU; the Russian permanent representative to the EU;
Giovanni Kessler, controversial Director General of the European
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF); and top-EU-official-turned-tobacco-lobbyist Michel Petite.
Timely meetings have been held with:
Jos Delbeke, Director General, DG CLIMA on “what outcome should
business expect from the COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris” in
May 2015, in the run-up to these important climate negotiations
Dominique Ristori, Director General, DG ENER on “The Energy Agenda” in September 2014, as the Energy Union is under-development
Olivier Guersent, Head of Cabinet of Michel Barnier, (then
Commissioner Internal Market and Services) on the “Single Market – a
Status Report” in June 2013
Horst Reichenbach, Head of the Taskforce for Greece, on “GREECE:
Achievements and Future Challenges”, in March 2013, during the Greek
debt crisis.
Georg Broadch himself, the president of AMISA2, calls himself an “Experienced Public Affairs Executive” on his LinkedIn profile
and has a history of working for major European companies. He spent 14
years with ABB, the power technology company; five years with AT&T,
the telecoms firm; and 10 years at German business associations.
Corporate capture
AMISA2’s 17 corporate members,
as declared to CEO by Brodach, are: ABB, Airbus, Allianz, Amgen, BASF,
Bayer, Dow Europe, ExxonMobil, Google, Norsk Hydro, LyondellBasell
Industries, Michelin, Oracle, PGA, F. Hoffmann-La Roche (Roche), Solvay,
and Total and, judging from the attendance lists at some of the
breakfasts, there is a consistency about who attends the meetings from
these companies. In fact, “the rule” is that only the head of a Brussels
office can participate in AMISA2 breakfast meetings, so effectively
that company’s top EU lobbyist.
These organisations each pay €4000 a year to be a member of AMISA2,
more than enough to keep a roomful of lobbyists in croissants and coffee
for a year. Presumably these membership fees are the source of the
€60,000 budget declared in AMISA2’s lobby register declaration, the
majority of which is spent on lobbying. AMISA2’s declared lobby spend for 2015 is €25,000-€49,999; it’s not known on what else it spends its money.
CEO asked AMISA2 for the minutes of these breakfast meetings so that
we could see exactly what is being discussed. However, Brodach told us:
“There are no minutes and there is no result, because
there is no common set of interests and the intention is not to come to a
“result” whatsoever … if not to learn, understand and be educated on
the topic. We are not a lobbying organization.”
