EU Leaders Urged to Prioritize Environmental and Social Justice in New Strategic Agenda
As European and member state leaders prepare to gather and set the EU's strategic agenda for the next five years, a coalition of over 110 civil society organisations calls for a profound shift in priorities. This assembly, set to address critical issues ranging from climate change to economic inequality, faces mounting pressure to reject industry-driven agendas favouring deregulation and corporate profits over public and environmental health. The coalition's open letter demands a strategic focus on sustainable development, equitable wealth distribution, and stringent biodiversity and public health protections.
In stark contrast to these urgent calls for action, earlier this year, major polluting corporations led by the chemicals lobby group CEFIC unveiled the' Antwerp Declaration'. This declaration, launched discreetly with high-level support, championed business-friendly EU decision-making and pushed for deregulation under the guise of innovation and competitiveness. The civil society coalition's letter vehemently denounces this corporate agenda, highlighting its potential to significantly undermine essential environmental and social regulations. Instead, they advocate for an EU strategic agenda that genuinely serves the interests of people and the planet, emphasizing the crucial need for robust policies that support ecological sustainability and social justice.
The coalition letter reads as follows:
(Download the letter) (Versions in other languages available at https://corporateeurope.org/en/2024/06/prioritise-people-environment)
25 June 2024
Dear EU and member state leaders, ministers, and parliamentarians,
Time to prioritise needs of people and the environment
As member state and European leaders gather to decide on the strategic agenda of the EU
for the coming five years, we need real political solutions to the multiple crises we are facing.
That is why we are writing to urge you to abandon the ‘Industrial Deal’ agenda promoted by
business associations which would be disastrous for people and the environment.
Big polluting corporations led by the chemicals lobby group CEFIC have launched a plan for
an EU ‘Industrial Deal’ also called the ‘Antwerp Declaration’, and further initiatives by
BusinessEurope and the European Round Table for Industry echo this approach. They don’t
propose any reduction in energy consumption or toxic pollution; instead what these
corporate interests demand includes:
● Getting access to more public money to boost their interests despite the needs of
people and planet. This includes massive public funds at EU and national level to derisk
investments in infrastructure and ‘net-zero’ technologies. These include carbon
capture and hydrogen which will lock-in further disastrous fossil fuel use and which,
alongside more nuclear power, will effectively enable business-as-usual for Europe’s
biggest polluters.
● Far-reaching and speedy deregulation under the guise of ‘competitiveness’ and
‘innovation’ including the rolling back of existing social and green rules, and
undermining the development and implementation of effective regulations in the
future. Boosting the ‘better regulation’ agenda will exacerbate the existing
prioritisation of competitiveness and economic factors in law-making.
● ‘Completing’ the single market with stronger enforcement to enable corporations
and the European Commission to block much needed bold plans for a social and
green transition at the national and municipal levels. Remarkably, initiatives which
promote a socially just ecological transition, public services, or collective labour law
are not exempt from legal challenges under single market rules.
● More ‘free trade’ and other measures, including what EU strategists call ‘hard
power’, to secure ever more raw materials and energy supplies. This will see big
corporations extracting resources from global south countries which will have to deal
with the social and environmental destruction and the lost opportunity to use the
resources for their own development.
● A more business-friendly way of making EU decisions through the use of forums
and dialogues with industry-biased membership and no public accountability
mechanisms.
We urge EU and member state leaders to reject these unsustainable industry projects, put
forward by those with the deepest pockets and the smoothest public relations machines.
Afterall the industry promotion of this agenda comes after the same lobbies successfully
sabotaged a range of important legislative proposals that were desperately needed to
protect nature, biodiversity, and public health, including the Chemicals Strategy for
Sustainability and the Farm to Fork ambitions.
And this corporate lobby campaign comes at a time when we are facing multiple crises that
hit communities and the very environment we live in and depend on. We face an ecological
crisis of unknown proportions, from climate disaster to species extinction, which is already
impacting Europeans’ daily lives, threatening our energy and food security, ecosystems,
infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and health.
Meanwhile the cost of living crisis has seen basic living costs like food, housing, and utilities
increase massively in comparison to wages for millions of Europeans, driven by corporate
profiteering, particularly by the fossil fuel and military industries, exacerbating poverty and
inequality across the continent. To add insult to injury, ‘economic governance’ policies
including austerity are being restarted, harming social standards and the climate transition,
and undermining public services in member states. Not properly addressing issues of
poverty, inequality, and poor public services are important (but preventable) drivers of the
growth of extreme-right groups in various member states.
The EU and member states should have an agenda based on prioritising the needs of
people and the environment. This should include:
● Redistributing wealth to secure well-being: investing in public services, creating a
meaningful Just Transition for all workers, especially those in polluting industries, and
abandoning austerity policies. People at the impoverished end of the economy
should not have to pay for the urgently required ecological transition.
● Reshaping the EU and member state economies towards systemic change
including decent work, fairness, safe products that do not contain hazardous
substances, and real sustainability. The so-called ‘Industrial Deal’ agenda should be
dropped. Instead an EU industrial strategy must be public interest-based in order to
deliver a really fair and sustainable transition that works for local communities.
● Adopting strong laws to protect people and the planet, to achieve the phaseout
of fossil fuels, real zero greenhouse gas emissions, and zero pollution. The proper
application of the polluter pays (and repairs) and precautionary principles will help to
ensure accountability for the environmental crises and a stronger approach to public
interest law-making.
● Learning from the approach adopted towards the tobacco industry, we need new
rules to protect decision-making from corporate interference. A recent WHO
report on health-harming products in the EU illustrated how “a small number of
transnational corporations … wield significant power over the political and legal
contexts in which they operate, and obstruct public interest regulations which could
impact their profit margins.” It is vital that industry is no longer able to weaken and
defeat legislation which aims to protect people and the planet.
We urge you to put this agenda at the centre of the EU programme for 2024-29 and beyond.
We would be pleased to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with you in person.
Yours faithfully,
Academia Cidad.
Afrikagrupperna (Sweden)
AICED (Appui aux Initiatives Communaire de Conservation de l'Environnement et de
Developpement Durable (RDCongo))
AlgorithmWatch
Amigas de la Tierra - Friends of the Earth Spain
Anders Handeln (Austria)
Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE)
Arnika
Association For Promotion Sustainable Development
Attac Austria
ATTAC Spain
BankTrack
BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination
Biofuelwatch, Europe/USA
Broederlijk Delen
Căși sociale ACUM!/Social housing NOW!
Center for International Environmental Law
Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
Climate Action Campaign at the Humboldt UU Fellowship
Climaxi
CNE CSC Belgian trade union in health social and services
Comite Schone Lucht | Clean Air Committee NL
Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren
Corporate Europe Observatory
DEMETER BE
Demeterforbundet Danmark
Deutsche Umwelthilfe
Di.logo 2000-Jubileo Sur Argentina
Earth Trek (Croatia)
Eco Hvar, Croatia
Ecologistas en Acci.n (Spain)
EDEN center Albania
Ekō
EnvMed - European Network for Environmental Medicine
Estonian Green Movement
Fair Resource Foundation
Fairwatch (Italy)
Fern
Food & Water Action Europe
foodwatch
Foreningen for Biodynamisk Jordbrug
Fridays for Future Romania
Frie B.nder – Levende Land
Friends of the Earth Europe
Friends of the Earth Finland / Maan yst.v.t ry
Fr.samlerne Danmark
Fundacja Strefa Zieleni, Poland
GAIA - Grupo de Ac..o e Interven..o Ambiental
Gallifrey Foundation, Switzerland
G.n.rations Futures
GLOBAL 2000 - Friends of the Earth Austria
Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power, and Stop
Impunity
Global Witness
Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet (GASP)
Green Impact
Gr.n Hverdag, Denmark
Hamraah Foundation
Health and Environment Justice Support (HEJSupport)
Herenboeren Nederland
Hogar sin T.xicos (Spain)
Innovation pour le D.veloppement et Protection de l'Environnement
Institute for Sustainable Development Foundation (Poland)
International Office, Clean Clothes Campaign
ISDE, International Society of Doctors for Environment (Italy)
La Grande Puissance de Dieu
Landsforeningen Praktisk .kologi - Danish Association for Practical Ecology
Leefmilieu
Les Amis de la Terre France (FoE France)
Les Amis de la Terre-Belgique asbl
LobbyControl
Momentum Institute - The Think Tank for the Many (Austria)
Muchi Children's Home
Nature et Progr.s Belgique
Naturefriends Greece
NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark
Observatoire du principe pollueur-payeur
Ocean. Now!
OGM dangers
Organic Aquaculture - Denmark
P..stame Eesti Metsad (Save Estonia's Forests)
Parents For Future Global
Permakultur Danmark, Denmark
Pesticide Action Network Europe
Pesticide Action Network Germany
Plastic Change
Plastic Soup Foundation
Plataforma Transgenicos Fora
POLLINIS
Polska Zielona Sieć
PowerShift
Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth Switzerland
Protect The Forest Sweden
ReCommon
Red de Acci.n sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en M.xico (RAPAM) A.C.
SAFE Food Advocacy Europe
Sahita Institute, Indonesia
Schola Campesina Aps
Secrets Toxiques
Solidagro (Belgium)
SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
Stichting Zaadgoed
Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA, Poland
S.DWIND Institut (Germany)
The Lifescape Project
The Scarab Trust
Think Tank (Belgium)
Transnational Institute
TROCA - Plataforma por um Com.rcio Internacional Justo
UK Hazards Campaign
urgewald
Vitale Rassen (Belgium)
WomanHealth Philippines
Women Engage for a Common Future - WECF International
Xnet, Institute for Democratic Digitalisation (Spain)
Young Friends of the Treaty (YouFT)
Zelena akcija / FoE Croatia
ZERO - Association for the Sustainability of the Earth System
Zukunftskonvent Germany
Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory, 26 Rue d’Edimbourg, 1050 Brussels, Belgium:
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