Ahead of the European Elections on 6-9 June 2024, we want to look back and reflect on some of the MEPs who have stood up to the fossil fuel industry during this past mandate, and whose work standing up for the Fossil Free Politics campaign will serve as an inspiration for the debates and activities in the next Parliament.
This European Parliament was elected during a time when people all over Europe took to the streets to demand climate action. School strikes and mass demonstrations were raging all over the continent and voters looked for candidates who would finally tackle climate change in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
This European Commission was supposed to be the greenest ever. The European Green Deal was presented by President Ursula von der Leyen as a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making the European Union climate neutral in 2050. It was described by her as “Europe’s man on the moon moment.”
Shortly after, Europe ended up in one crisis after the other, and it became increasingly apparent that the Commission was choosing strange allies in its mission, and at the first signs of a crisis on the climate and energy front, starting with the energy price crisis in 2021, our political systems failed us. The fossil fuel industry took advantage of the turmoil by using it as an opportunity to expand its power and defend its vested interests, despite the best efforts of some Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) elected to protect us against its influence.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, companies such as Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Chevron, and ExxonMobil have made more than €200 billion in profits, while millions of us were left to pay the price through ever increasing household bills.
These same companies actively lobbied at national and EU level to weaken social measures that would have helped millions over the last two winters. They enjoyed unprecedented access to decision-makers during the energy crisis and pushed for further fossil gas and oil lock-ins for decades to come.
The European Parliament is supposed to be the most democratic EU institution. We elect MEPs to stand up for us and hold the EU Commission to account, but the industry thwarts that by pouring vast amounts of money into lobbying so that their interests are protected instead. What’s more, the so-called “revolving doors” of Brussels means that MEPs are sometimes even just industry representatives dressed up as elected politicians.
This money ensures that the industry maintains access to our decision-makers in national governments, the European Parliament and the Commission, especially in times of crisis. It becomes almost impossible for decision-makers to withstand the pressure of such a well-funded operation.
Instead of listening to people who were hit hardest by unaffordable energy bills and climate chaos, many EU decision makers decided to turn their ears to the companies who caused the crisis in the first place. The commission even set up a task force (the EU Energy Platform Industry Advisory Group) to shape the EU’s response to the energy crisis, which was made up of the 6 biggest oil companies.
The first public hearing into the influence of the fossil fuel industry on the energy crisis was held in the European Parliament in February 2024. It brought together experts in tobacco lobbying, political economy, and energy poverty to discuss the idea of regulating the fossil fuel industry like tobacco.
Anna Gilmore, Founding Director of the Tobacco Control Research Group at the University of Bath, told the hearing that “It’s unsurprising that the response to the energy crisis has been so irrelevant. Asking the fossil fuel industry to figure out how to decrease gas dependency is like asking a Marlboro man for advice on how to quit smoking.”
So long as our institutions are captured by these fossil fuel industry interests we will not be able to adopt meaningful legislation to tackle the climate crisis.
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Thankfully, we also saw a cross-party bunch of MEPs using their positions over the past five years to make a positive impact on citizens, as well as on the European institutions, by putting people, and the planet, before corporate profits.
These Fossil Free Politics Champions have set the tone and shown the way for securing a fossil free EU for the incoming MEPs. This is by no means an exhaustive list, it is only some of the many decision-makers that have supported our demands during the last mandate.
Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA, France)
Marie Toussaint has been a consistent supporter of Fossil Free Politics and has fought for her own political group, the Greens, to champion FFP priorities.
- Toussaint was one of the first supporters of the Public Hearing into the influence of the fossil fuel industry on the energy crisis, and she fought to avoid conflicts of interest with the fossil fuel lobby when negotiating gas policies.
- She has supported rejections to the last few Projects of Common Interest (PCI) infrastructure lists since they represented a fossil fuel industry wishlist and were drafted with heavy influence by this same industry.
- Nationally, Toussaint launched her own Fossil Free Politics campaign and was involved in dragging the TotalEnergies CEO before the French Senate earlier this year.
- She called for Climate Commissioner Woepke Hoekstra to disclose the clients & projects he worked for while at McKinsey, to reassure the European public that he did not work for big polluters and therefore hold a potential conflict of interest.
“At every turn, and for decades, the fossil fuel industry fought against any attempt to curve their strategies towards the respect of the Paris Agreement and share the billions they gained during the energy crisis that could have gone to the transition and to protect vulnerable households.”
Cornelia Ernst (The Left, Germany)
Cornelia Ernst is one of the longest serving MEPs, first elected in 2009. She is not running again this year but we are grateful for her dedicated support to our campaign, which she backed from the very start.
- Throughout this past mandate she worked against the fossil fuel industry around negotiations on gas, hydrogen, and Projects of Common Interest (PCI), which are key infrastructure projects that link the energy systems across EU countries, spanning electricity, hydrogen and CO2.
- She was a loud advocate for renewables and against industry greenwashing – hammering home the message that citizens, not few fossil fuel CEOs, should be at the centre of energy legislation.
“We need the European Commission to lead the way and take decisive action by introducing a conflict of interest framework to cut fossil fuel lobbyists out of politics. Without the fossil fuel industry wasting the precious time we have left with false solutions, we will be able to pass meaningful laws to protect the climate.”
Pierre Larrouturou (Socialists & Democrats, France)
Pierre Larrouturou has been very supportive of Fossil Free Politics as an S&D MEP and we count on their support in the next mandate.
- Larrouturou spoke at our public hearing, giving his own evidence on the importance of tackling climate change by excluding the fossil fuel industry from policy making, similarly to tobacco.
- He also spoke at the People Over Polluters day of action in Brussels, denouncing the impact of fossil fuel lobbying on the cost of living crisis, signing up to the call for a conflict of interest framework in the EU.
- Larrouturou co-signed a cross-party op-ed in June 2023 with Manon Aubry of The Left, Michael Bloss of Greens/EFA calling on the EU to restrict fossil fuel lobbyists’ access to our institutions.
“When the scale of the public health emergency caused by smoking was made clear, we realised there was no place for tobacco lobbyists to guide decisions on public health. With the climate crisis deepening, we need to urgently apply the same rules to fossil fuel lobbyists and kick Shell, TotalEnergies and the rest out of climate and energy policymaking for good.”
Alviina Alametsä (Greens/EFA, Finland)
Alviina Alametsä was one of the youngest MEPs in the EU Parliament when she was elected in 2019. She worked on fighting climate change and the influence that the fossil fuel industry holds on policy making, particularly in the Arctic.
- Alametsä was the shadow rapporteur on an important text – a so-called ‘Short Resolution’ on the responsibility of the fossil fuel industry for the cost of living crisis.
- She then called out the EPP group for leaving committee negotiations in an unprecedented manner, effectively blocking the resolution with the support of Renew.
- During the last plenary session of this mandate, Alametsä then proposed that the European Parliament address the topic of the resolution regardless, but the vote was defeated when Renew again followed the EPP in rejecting it.
“It is very telling how reluctant the majority of groups in the European Parliament were to publicly address the fact that the lobbying activities of the fossil fuel industry are in direct opposition to the wellbeing of low-income families and the EU’s climate goals. I feel that citizens deserve to know whose side the political groups in Parliament are on.”
Mohammed Chahim (Socialists & Democrats, The Netherlands)
Mohammed Chahim was a champion of the campaign through this past mandate, using his clout as Vice Chair of the S&D group to hold the Commission accountable.
- Chahim spoke at the political launch of the Fossil Free Politics campaign in February 2023, during which we handed over our petition with 100k signatures to kick polluters out of politics.
- He spoke on behalf of the S&D group during the confirmation hearing for new Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, a former Shell employee, he denounced the conflict of interest of the candidate saying “We cannot separate his promises from his past actions.
- Chahim also went on the record denouncing the shady lobbying practices he has encountered in the European Parliament.
“[Lobbying] comes in many shapes and forms. During the Emission Trading Scheme votes in the committee I was harassed [by Fossil Fuels lobbyists] in this building wherever I was, once I was even followed up to the toilet.”
Claudia Gamon (Renew, Austria)
Claudia Gamon has been a consistent supporter of Fossil Free Politics during her time as an MEP for the Renew Group.
- Gamon is a reliable voice in the fight to kick polluters out of politics within a party that is far less reliable when it comes to voting against business interests.
- She didn’t follow the Renew groups’ position and did support the Short Resolution on the responsibility of the fossil fuel industry in the cost of living crisis.
- Gamon worked towards improving the ‘governance’ of an important gas legislation package, the ‘gas package’, by pushing for reduced fossil gas transport industry influence and conflicts of interest.
“Fossil fuel companies still benefit hugely from the EU’s fossil fuel dependence. And yet these companies seem to have priority access to EU decision-makers pushing to protect their polluting business models.”
Mikuláš Peksa (Greens/EFA, Czechia)
Mikuláš Peksa is a staunch voice against fossil fuel lobbying in his home country of Czechia.
- Climate is one of Peksa’s top priorities, and he uses his position as a Pirate Party MEP to oppose the fossil fuel industry, with Czech energy company EPH as his primary target.
- He organised a seminar against the fossil fuel industry in the European Parliament, and invited FFP to speak at it.
- Peksa also talks about fossil industry lobbying a lot and has written op-eds on the topic.
“As long as part of the media and public figures are directly paid by the fossil industry without openly admitting it, it will be difficult to avoid their obstruction and personal attacks discrediting science and reasonable and necessary solutions to the climate crisis.”
Manon Aubry (The Left, France)
Co-Chair of The Left group, Manon Aubry has been one of the most prominent figures to call out the dirty business of the fossil fuel industry during this mandate.
- Aubry uses her social media channels to regularly expose fossil fuel lobbyists who try to influence her and other MEPs, pointing out who they are and what they’re up to.
- She gave her support to the FFP petition that ultimately led to the European Parliament holding the first ever public hearing into the role of the industry in the cost of living crisis.
- The Left group voted against the appointment of Wopke Hoekstra, a former lobbyist and fossil fuel enthusiast, as Climate Commissioner and Aubry said “there was an “obvious conflict of interest” and “nothing to be proud of” about his appointment.
- Aubry also signed onto the Kick Big Polluters Out declaration ahead of COP28.
“The oil and gas lobby has ensured it keeps profiting billions while millions still struggle with the cost of living. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The EU already has rules to blunt the influence of the tobacco lobby, it now needs to apply them to fossil fuels.”
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There will be lobbyists who will be watching these elections very carefully. The fossil fuel industry wants the next European Parliament to be even more pro-polluter, in order to push their agenda even more and protect their destructive interests. All to ensure a steady flow of profits away from social measures that eases the burdens on the people.
That’s why we need to elect MEPs who want to kick polluters out of the institutions and will continue to call for a Conflict of Interest framework for the fossil fuel industry, similar to the existing firewall against the tobacco industry.
The influence of the tobacco industry on our decision-makers was successfully reduced because of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which states that signatories shall act to protect public health policies from the interests of the tobacco industry.
The next Commission cannot be captured in the same way as this one was.
MEPs need to scrutinise every pick for the next round of Commissioners, and continue to hold the Commission to account for its actions over the next five year term. Their job would be made much easier by the implementation of a robust Conflict of Interest framework, which could include measures such as removing the fossil fuel industry’s lobby passes.
We did it for tobacco. We can do it for fossil fuels.
The fossil fuel industry only has its own interests at heart.
As suggested by our coalition together with anti-poverty networks, social justice groups and trade unions, it is time to deliver tangible solutions that put people and the planet before profit.
The European Elections on 6-9 June 2024 are an opportunity to cut the fossil fuel industry out of the EU institutions, and let the people in!
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The ‘Fossil Free Politics’ campaign was launched in 2019 with the support of nearly 200 civil society organisations, and is calling for an official limit to the power of fossil fuel lobbyists in Europe that mirrors what’s in place for the tobacco industry. Friends of the Earth Europe, Corporate Europe Observatory, Food and Water Europe and Greenpeace, are coordinating this campaign. More info: fossilfreepolitics.org