The European Union is entering an era of Austerity 2.0, with policies centered on “competitiveness” dominating the agenda of the bloc’s governance bodies. A controversial omnibus proposal, aimed at dismantling environmental and social rights monitoring regulations, is currently under discussion, while corporate influence over EU industry strategies has reached dramatic levels.
According to a report by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and LobbyControl, over 160 companies now spend at least €1 million annually lobbying EU institutions. Corporate lobbying expenditures have recently totaled €343 million, with hundreds of meetings held between industry representatives and policymakers in the past year. This marks a one-third investment increase in just five years and has fueled alarming policy shifts. It is also likely an underestimate, given that reporting about lobbying expenditures continues to be incomplete.
Among the top lobbying spenders in 2024 were Big Tech, finance, energy, and chemical corporations. Big Tech alone spent €67 million, with Meta and Microsoft holding over 400 meetings with EU representatives. This push was reinforced by pressure from the new US administration, which, encouraged by the industry, actively sought to weaken European regulations. Meanwhile, a report coordinated by former Italian Prime Minister and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi described existing data protection rules and the AI Act as “barriers to competitiveness,” aligning perfectly with Big Tech’s agenda.
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The millions spent on lobbying are clearly paying off, CEO and LobbyControl noted, “considering the pro-business agenda of the second von der Leyen Commission.” And Big Tech is not the only sector with a gleaming future in such a Europe. Fossil fuel giants and chemical manufacturers have also made significant incursions by pressuring the EU on critical policy areas.
The fossil fuel industry, including companies like ExxonMobil, has rooted itself into the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, securing backing and funding for technical fixes that will allow them to maintain business as usual rather than transition away from oil and gas. Meanwhile, the chemical and agribusiness industry, which spent €45 million on EU lobbying by the beginning of February 2025, stalled efforts to limit PFAS “forever chemicals”, posing severe risks to human and environmental health. Companies like Chemours and Honeywell massively increased their lobbying expenditure, while the European Commission has sent “industry-friendly signals” about its likely handling of the PFAS regulation proposal, raising concerns about the outcome of this regulatory battle, according to CEO and LobbyControl.
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The gains for corporate interests are coming at the direct expense of workers’ rights and deregulation across multiple sectors, including finance. The Competitiveness Compass, described in the report as a “sweeping deregulation agenda”, puts corporate competitiveness at the top of the Commission’s priorities—a move that Action Aid warns paints the picture of a society where “prosperity can only come at the expense of human rights violations and environmental destruction.”
Ahead of a protest against the omnibus regulation this week, the Left bloc in the European Parliament urged the European Commission to “stop serving corporate interests, ditch the deregulation agenda, and protect workers’ rights—not dismantle them.” In addition to that, CEO and LobbyControl are demanding stricter lobbying regulations, including the introduction of a corporate firewall to limit industry control over policies affecting the lives of 450 million people living in the EU.
