doesn't give a darn about anything james mission to teach creation and why you should care about humans and. this is why you should care only. every six months there was an e.u. summit and every six months that your team it's just a few days before. location and date were kept confidential the booking was made two years and. left behind was a clear message to the following you summit on the heads of governments a few days later. adopt the single market the monetary union infrastructure projects a flexible labor market deregulation downsize public services austerity measures and so on and so on the whole your liberal agenda for them basically our picture got confirmed by an american scholar stepping into the topic maria green cowles i

was interested and doing something about europe and something about the european union i started talking with some of the c.e.o.'s and in particular the corporate affairs managers of these firms to ask them what happened and everybody had a little piece of the story and then i met with keith richardson. keith and i would talk about different things and he would give me some ideas and i'd go and i'd talk with other individuals and then i'd come back with more questions and sometimes steve had the answers and sometimes he didn't and finally i believe it was on my seventh meeting with keith when i said to keith you know i can write about this i can have all these different interviews but i really want to see the pieces of paper said to me well you know i have a bunch of cardboard boxes in the basement of the we haven't opened them they're from the earlier days we just we just put this material in the by. boxes and of

course and you know in the back of my mind i was very excited thinking this is it. maria green culson came across a telling. it was from visit decker see your phillips. in december nine hundred eighty five he wrote to the heads of state just before the signing of the single european act which started the process of the single market. the crux of the tallackson is as follows you know we don't know what you're going to do but we want you to act you can act one way or another if you choose not to have a single market program then you have given us no choice but perhaps take our business elsewhere.

this was a clear fred the year two you were presented sixty percent of western europe's industrial output this was blackmail. why did not a single government say anything about the deck or taylor hicks. or about the other frets that followed. they were elected representatives. but we felt that this was a betrayal and we wanted to do something about it it's important for a bigger public to know about this and we decided to publish a book. and besides collecting data we started to make interviews. undercover interviews. finally in spring one thousand nine hundred seven we assembled the results of our investigations and interviews and two or. court europe

. rescheduled the launch for the big you some of them so that all the media would be there we were excited as. we had prepared the book launch and half an hour before the first friends started arriving. very little or no pressure showed up. so unfortunately our first probably given was really not know this is part of. the job of the latest on this truth mark a very groove a key exercise the strengthening of the rule system of multilateral craig. and perhaps most important be establishment of a stronger broadly. brain organizer.

i started to work on the financial services cats negotiations and that was really the time where i discovered this is we just like we'd like to do that. we've come to the end of the most far reaching trade negotiation ever. the negotiators of the hundred seventeen governments and richie vtam extraordinary success. with your approval therefore my gavel the euro why rose continued. in telemarketing. was economy and a very important market reach market with a high g.d.p. per capita and that when the european union was going outside to negotiate as a bloc they had real power because it was a biggest exporter the biggest in. porter the biggest foreign investor. but so in

britain the trade commission of european union was complaining that i with every time he was going to negotiate with the united states in front of him we see his counterpart over here you have your office and garden audiences for years and on his back he would have c.e.o.'s of big banks a big insurance company telling please do that for me please do that for us but when charlie and britain was turning his back to see where the support was he was actually having only some minister saying don't do this don't do that and please do that it only but not more and he was really not very happy you know because we discovered that there is a whole world of lobbyists in washington to tell their government what they want in the trade association. and we thought this is the way we have to go we have to do something like that the european institutions is asking for it these institutions cannot only rely on the information given by the member states and the expert in

the finance ministry is why they need to get the information directly from the the banks at the insurance company. you know so then at a point in time european commission a so in britain decided ok there was association and not really serious about this issue i am going to invite for dinner fourteen see you of the major services companies in europe so it's about big banks big telecom big insurance big decisions services big transport services big tourism companies when you take all the different sectors it is actually making about seventy percent of the g.d.p. in europe so we invited to bunch of forty of those. and. after dinner he said well now that you've got some some food by the commission you only saw things you have to do something for me people sometimes think that the commission comes up with ideas out of the blue that pushes them it's not soon. tool

commission is thirsty for ideas from the cannot make acton's to help us to decide what to put food which is in the interests of europe. this is where the idea of creating a network of association and companies pushing for the trade in service is viewed by the private sector came up and became managing director of the open services for . relief. in general to nine we had. eleven months to prepare seattle first every cio i mean it's your conference us as a creation of this organization imagine at four and the idea was that this meeting is going to lounge the millenium brown that's so you know britain had so much push for. brits and never

got to see how tall the inter commission had to resign because of the massive fraud several commissioners were involved in. the millennium round itself took a completely unexpected turn. i was based in the hotel and as a conference was in the sheraton five hundred metres away and i have not been allowed to go out of the hotel because it was one protest or blocking the door by lying. and it was a police officer beside him and asking can i go outside please i would like to go and do my job. i was going to assist disallows of the c.s. around so that we will enter into a new phase a negotiation is a libra zation of service. i remember that commissioner let me as been blocking i mean he has been able to enter he's caught but the car couldn't move because of those people they're just there and the policeman say please go away if i. if mitt

is so that the v.i.p.'s here can do his job. many n.g.o.s say that to yourself is a secret secret organization as in secret meetings you can commission all the everything is on the website i mean i am doing my job by contacting the commission with officials responsible for my file if anybody as would like to do the same there's a fun number he's on the in the world on the website i'm just doing my job and i don't have anything specific but is a commission has some relationship with the surface because it commission is willing to get some information from the services sectors before negotiating on their behalf because this is what we're talking about trade is done by companies not by n.g.o.s. this is the annual dinner at the french if you're a which is really a very big brussels organization and lots and lots of people from different countries different jobs different walks of life who do all interested in. how can

you develop with the right things to do wrong and how close build on what we've already done. the inclusive thing trying. to get to second brussels are feeling a part of the vacuum that exists so that you are able to close no european probably to greece. to syntax to step into the vacuum and the forums in which something like a debate happens inside the process bob. there are national politicians here european politicians serious civil servant said the dreaded you know it creates a dear good diplomat strip businessman good professors from universities will soon see people wondering about this is easy to read like a really everybody will still want to know where or when i will actually be on change the law did my job is to keep in contact. think tanks are not. slow beasts

but they are part of the landscape of lobbying because companies used them to transmit their demands from their their perspectives and hence all of these are heavily dependent on industry from the. simple being the sponsoring it microsoft is one of american business is present in europe microsoft is one of them why not. have had think tanks in brussels that were directly from the by the oil industry and that we're working to sold out about whether there is such a thing as climate change and whether it's important for governments to act is to reduce c o two emissions. you can set up research institutes to provide you with. research that kind of strengthens your position. you can launch a mess if p.r. campaigns and flood the media with your information. what also happens is setting

up fake n.g.o.s as happened in the big battle about the software patents law suddenly there were these advertisements from an enduro that's said it was representing small and medium sized companies but the financial backers of this n.g. over microsoft and it's the people. in the end it's all about money in democracy it's one person one vote but in the brussels baseness it's one euro one faults the problem it's we don't know about the money behind politics we don't know how much is being spent on lobby and by whom and on which issues. we need to cut this on the democrats control it has to be made visible what the role is of lobbying in the decision making what is the role of a large company like monsanto or shell. new

year's celebrations on the move without the traditional t.v. festive food surprising meetings and new adventures stories of love and love last hour russians teach foreigners to celebrate them biggest holiday of the year from moscow st petersburg by train over the new year there may be miracles. speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing story are you. trying.

to find out more visit our big i don't know it's called. so one of my first testimonies before the european commission was a very very awakening experience. but. i had one commissioner interrupt me and say well we understand you had a problem in the united states with lobbying activities but he went on to say but you know this is brussels and this is europe we don't have that kind of activity going on here which just kind of floored me that anyone could be so naive. more that perhaps the fact of answer was ok i'll concede that a lot of these k. street lobbyists and the professional lobbyists here in the united states may be corrupt however i know every major k. street lobby shop also has

a lobby shop in brussels and so we're in your bed europe don't you want to know if you think that we are so corruptible and so corrupting don't you want to know who we are and who's paying for us and what it is we're trying to get you to do for us. we had to decide to regulate lobbying for a long time in two thousand and four the new commission came in and for the first time ten eastern european countries were part of. when the first burns were commissioned started in autumn two thousand and four we wrote an open letter to the commission president. signed by over fifty n.g.o.s.

i would just like to say thank you. that's a very sincere thank you for the confidence which you just voiced and invested in me and i'd like to say to you that i understand this is a vote of confidence as also implying huge responsibility on my part and we are going to work hard give our all to serve europe to serve the institutions of the european union and to serve all our coast citizens of europe that. the response was a very short formal letter saying we received your letter sent you very interesting . but no substantial response. so it was sent the same a letter to all the presidents of the commission. and suddenly towards the end of

february we were contacted by the office of the same color as commissioner from estonia responsible for administration inviting us to come over. so we went to mr collis office which was at the top of the building. we didn't know what we had to expect from this meeting we had never been approached by a commission so in that sense it was very exciting welcomed by mr cullison himself and one of his cabinet. in this and mystical isn't a brochure and that made us smile it was a lovely planet guide to brussels which was a tongue in cheek very critical look at industry lobbying in the you written by eric and me in our our colleagues. when i started as a mistress and commission and i really souls at services so weak suspicion

surrounding so this isn't making in european union. of course i. say establish for myself a purpose to look to reduce the suspicions. told a step he was going to launch this european transparency initiative and we immediately saw that these fruits are because political opportunity. as an outsider to brussels business he also had a clear sense for how do you want to marry since. brussels. and some colors to get on with the lobby industry. european commission is going to its that's activities of interests representatives are legitimate and offer valuable input into the decision making process but things have to happen in a transparent manner the commission can see that is that these important to no interest representatives are what the interests they represent and against what

financial background. of say efforts to do creates a speech or to make the speech and. this of course outlined main principles of transparency initiative which should be done and it was of course met . with the excitement of controversial reactions and if you know without financial transparency we'll never find out who really is behind the campaign sticked lip a little bit more control on ourselves wouldn't harm our reputation with our voters that are spread. transparency must not for closer contact with real life with interest groups or groups without interest thank you commissioner callous can certainly understand best. when the european union was considering the european transparency initiative they were looking for some advice as to how some

of these achievements happened in the us and as a result i was brought out about half a dozen different times to testify before the european commission in the european parliament to tell the truth i was very impressed with the same color as when i first started working with him in the european commission some callers helped really usher the whole significance of needing transparency. he was very adamant at first about setting up a mandatory disclosure system full transparency but halfway through the process some colors came up against the political reality and. after free years of struggle and political fights and exhausted commission and set the stage to finally launch a lobby register a group. would little known or often. so quite that remarkable moment today. three years ago i proposed

to set up a register of lobbyists you know to do in hans transparency and and legitimacy and i want you to see in making process and. openness from today. so we proposed voluntary solution because i was i am come means that cease would shoot for all expect basins and i think that two days is a very important moment of cultural change. concerning zeese. aspect of this issue. taking in european institutions. and colors introduced a voluntary system against all recommendations by n.g.o.s and experts this was the best he could get. we have tried for over two years now to find out who had blocked callouses origin or intention. where it's other commissioners

the commission secretary and the lobbyist themselves. one month after the financial crisis started in october two thousand and eight. appointed that independent high level group on financial supervision. the group was to work our proposals for the regulation of the financial markets and to find a way out of the financial crisis. eight so-called wise men were appointed to this group. struck a lower share and i must say. i'm alluding of my using mccarty nashik culture over each recipient as found on this and last nuba. we looked into the any pennance of this independent group and we found some s.

honestly thinks. the legacy is the co-chair of a financial lobby organisation. linked to lehman brothers. greeting to citi group leasing to goldman sachs. mccarty nuber and bunch of always are notorious deregulators. and paris for nonis works to provide financial market intelligence to big banks. free of the eight were directly linked to american banks all of which were directly involved in causing the crisis. that's are always in addition closely linked to american right wing think tanks like the cato institute this was one of the closest advisors to the bush administration he was also involved in the liberal think tank some brussels in poland and the u.k. . of

a single of these wise men there was in favor of strict regulation another single one of them was really independence and the effect of these eight wise men on overcoming the financial crisis was zero the main thing that happened lost a lot of public money was flowing to the banks. as if. this whole affair has a horrible sense of deserve all the same financial institutions that were bailed out with taxpayers' money i know making a fortune from greece's misfortune by those same taxpayers are paying the price in deep cuts to their salaries and social services.

after twenty years of deregulation and liberalisation suddenly the european union herself was at the edge of being blown up. what is at stake is not only the european union but also democracy and the future of the values that we hold dear. was a dis what we europeans had once it. wasn't really naive to have a european dream. that human nature and yet not. you always have a bad sign somewhere. and we need to make sure that we keep only the good and therefore you need regulation. when you live in a society you have proof because otherwise people are going too fast on the

motorway because people in a respected elss because the stronger take this basis is this is a human nature what we have done to go and make sure that we live together these by create images lynch us by creating an authority that everyone respects or.

choose your language. because we know if digital print is a shelf i'm not going to. choose the view of the concerns just because i can get cheap three opinions that invigorating good. choose the stories that imply good life choose the access to your office. wealthy british style.

markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy. for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines in two kinds a report. that. i. think. that speech. i wish i. saw a myth.