Europe Inc.: Regional and Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power

Over the past two decades, the major international corporations have become industrial lobbyists within the European Union to such an extent that they pose a threat to democracy. This new and fully revised edition of Europe Inc. provides a much-needed insight into the systematic ways in which transnational corporations work through lobby groups to shape EU policy. With a new introduction, updated statistics and new resources, it's an invaluable handbook for anyone interested in the EU and the political power that corporations wield. The authors cover the major players in this anti-democratic practice and analyse the factors that have enabled corporate influence in Europe to dominate. They examine how governments have been persuaded to increase competitiveness by dismantling and privatising public services, deregulating industry, and dismantling social and environmental protections; the increasing influence of corporate lobby groups on decision makers and the corresponding lack of voice given to small business, organised labour and individual citizens; the impact of the single market and currency; structural adjustment in Eastern Europe; the role of European industrial lobby groups within the WTO, and the important Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Case studies include the biotech industry, the public relations industry and the UN climate summit.