to occupy your building. possibly they wanted a confrontation possibly they wanted me to ring up the police to have the police come in through the moment but it didn't seem to be a good idea at all learn the european way with brussels business. in the uk or see it's one person one fault but in the brussels business it's one euro one fault. it's easy to. say. every six months there was in the us on that and every six months that your team

it's just a few days before. location and they 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 neo liberal agenda for them basically. confirms by american scholar stepping into the topic maria green call's i was interested in doing something about your can 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 tease out the answers and sometimes they didn't and finally i believe it was on my seventh meeting with keith when i said to keith you know i can write up out there so i can have all these different interviews but i really want to see the pieces of paper and keith said to me well you know i have a bunch of cardboard boxes in the basement of the actually we haven't opened them they're from the earlier days we just we just put this material in the boxes and of course and you know in the back of my mind i was very excited thinking this is it. green colson came across or tell x. . it was from visit decker see your phillips.

in december ninety five he wrote to the heads of state just before the signing of the single european fact but 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 governor. say anything about the decorative acts. or about the other frets

that followed. they were elected representatives. but we felt 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. besides collecting data we started to make interviews. undercover interviews. finally in spring one thousand nine hundred seventy we assembled the results of our investigations and interviews into a report in europe. we scheduled the book launch for the big use moment in time so that all the media would be here we were excited as. we had prepared the book launch and how from all before the first friends started to arrive. very little or no press showed up.

so unfortunately a first probably given it's most really not noticed by the pope. jumped into the writers down this road block a very groove a key exercise the strengthening of the rule system of multilateral crate. and perhaps most important the establishment of a stronger broadly by welding for a new organizer. i set it to work on the financial side assist gats negotiations that. remain a time when i discovered this is we. like we'd like to do that. we've come to the

end of the most. legal situation. the negotiators in seventeen governments an. extraordinary success. with your approval therefore my gavel to europe. internal market of you was becoming any very important market reach market with a high g.d.p. per capita and that when the european union was going outside and negotiate as a bloc they had a real power because it was a biggest exporter the biggest importer 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 when we see his counterpart here you have your office and gardener observes through stories and

on his back he would have c.e.o.'s of big banks a big insurance companies telling please do that for me please do that for us but winterland britain was turning his back to see where his report 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. 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 experts in the finance ministry by the need to get information directly from the the banks of the company. you know so then at a point in time european commission or so in britain decided ok there was association and not really serious c about c. i am going to invite for dinner

fourteen c.e.o. of the major services companies in europe so it's about big banks big telecom big insurance big dissipations 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 the bunch of forty of those. and. after dinner i said well now that you've got some some food by the commission you owe me something you have to do something for me people sometimes think that the commission comes up with ideas out of the blue pushes them it's not so tool commission is thirsty for ideas from cannot make acton's to help us to decide what to put food. this is where the idea of creating a network of association and companies pushing for the trade in services he was by

the private sector came up i became managing director of the open services firm. in general in atlanta nine we had. eleven months to prepare seattle first. a ministerial conference after the creation of this organisation imagine at four and the idea was that this meeting is going to lounge the millenium brown that. britain had so much push for. britain never got to see out all 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 interim. and there is

a conference was in the sheraton five hundred meters away and i have not been allowed to go out of the hotel because i was one put tester looking to draw my light rail 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 us allow for the c.s. around so that we will enter into a new phase a negotiation for liver is a liver is a shot of the service. i remember that commissioner let me as been blocking i mean he has been able to enter his car but the car couldn't move because of those people they're just there and no policeman say please go away in five metres so that the high v.i.p.'s here can do his job. many n.g.o.s say that yourself is a secret secret organisation having secret meetings you can commission all the way 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 phone 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 if the french if you're a teacher is really a very big lessons 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. and how can you build on what we've already done. the inclusive thing trying. thing to use it in brussels are you feeling. part of the vacuum that existed that

you would have thought that there was no european public to base. the syntax to step into that vacuum and they are the forums in which something like a debate happens inside the process bubble. there are national politicians here european politician or a serious civil servant said and the dreaded you know it cracks a good diplomat story of businessmen to get their faces through the universe into its will still see people wondering about bristles it's a bit like it really everybody will still want to not well when i will to be honest to be moderate my job is to keep in contact. think tanks are not themselves lobbyists but they are part of the landscape of lobbying because companies use them to transmit their demands from their their perspectives and hence all of these are heavily dependent on industry from the. simple being of the sponsoring it microsoft is wonderful in american business he said presently do it mike yourself is one of

them why not. have had think tanks in brussels that were directly from the party or oil industry and that were working to sold out about sweaters or such a thing as climate change and whether it's important for governments to access 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 puts the financial backers of this as you hope for microsoft in. as

a people. in the end it's all about money in the ocracy it's one person one told but in the brussels baseness it's one euro one fault the problem is we don't know about the money behind politics we don't know how much is being spent on the wealthy and by whom and on which issues. we need to put this on the democrats control it has to be made visible what's the role is of lobbying the decision making what is the role of a large company like monsanto or shell. commission free accreditation free transport charges free. range month three. three stooges free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects

a free media oh don the r t dot com. world. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. download the official application to choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. so one of my first testimony is before the european commission was a very very awakening experience. 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 all 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 have to decide how to regulate lobbying for a long time. before the new commission came in and for the first time ten eastern european countries were part of. when the first burst of commission 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 have received your letter sent you very interesting. no substantial response. so we sent the same letter to all the presidents of the commission. and suddenly towards the end of february we were contacted by the same color as commissioner from estonia responsible for administration inviting us to come over.

so we went to mr collis office which was somewhere in 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 we welcomed by mr cullison himself and one of his cabinet member. and 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 but a very critical look at industry lobbying in the e.u. written by eric and me in our our colleagues. when i started the commission and i really sold at several says so weak suspicion surrounding some decision making in european union. of course i. say establish for myself a purpose to a little reduce the suspicions. told to 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 the ordinary citizen process. and some colors to get on with the lobby in the street. european commission is going to it's that's activities of interests representatives are legitimate and valuable input into the decision making process but sinks 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. 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 stick. a little bit more control on ourselves wouldn't harm our reputation with our voters that i spotted. the 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 and the european parliament to tell the truth i was very impressed with the same color so when i first started working with him in the european commission some callers helped really the whole significance of needing transparency.

he was very adamant at first about setting up a mandatory disclosure system everything full transparency but. some colors came up against the political reality and. after free years of struggle and political fight an exhausted commissioner colorless entered the stage to finally launch a lobby register a good. little known and. so quite that remarkable moment today. years ago i proposed to set up the register of lobbyists and in order to enhance dance better sound and legitimacy i don't say i'm healed this in making process and that is that openness from today. so we proposed voluntary solution

because i was i am convinced that cease would suit for all expect basins and i think that those days there is a very important moment of cultural change. concerning zeese. aspect of this is in making in european institutions. some 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 colossus' or original intention. where it other commissioners the commission secretary and the lobbyist themselves.

one month after the financial crisis started in october two thousand and eight. appointed the 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. and i must say. on the reading of my easing mccarty nashik bills are over each recipient has fun 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 organization. to lehman brothers. greeting to citi group leasing to goldman sachs. mccarty

nuber and bunch of always are notorious deregulators. and paris fernandes works to provide financial market intelligence. three of the eight were directly linked to american banks all of which were directly involved in causing the crisis. which 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 earlier and think tanks in brussels and poland and the u.k. . of a single of these wise men who was in favor of strict regulation now the 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 last night 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 well 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. you do this in the human nature and you are not on the good you always have the but side some. we need to make sure that we keep only the good and therefore you need religion. when you live in a society you have groups because otherwise people are going too fast on the motorway because people are not respected elders because the stronger takes place this is this is a human nature what we have done to go and make sure that we leave together these by create images lage advice by creating an authority that everyone respect.

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potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast expected to hit starting in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more patrie down here the bottom line there is still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight. d.c. it is going to pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout but even life building is largely driving lessons some emergency vehicles are exceptions. to. the.

camp expect. them to be cut commuting.