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Deregulation watch banner: competitiveness, simplification, overregulation, red tape, regulatory burdens

Recent publications

seeds patented
Food & agriculture

Take action: Say no to deregulation GMO food

Protect food and farming from corporate control
23.04.2026
The European Union is planning a major hand-out to big corporations like Bayer and BASF, that aim to control the food chain even further. What do they intend to do? Scrapping safety and transparency rules for risky new GMOs, and let corporations profit from patented GM crops.
BASF EU2024BE event
Food & agriculture

CORRECTIV: "The pact with the chemical industry"

20.04.2026
Tens of thousands of unknown, sometimes toxic, chemicals are floating in the Rhine. Why is industry allowed to discharge them unhindered? A top manager of a major corporation reveals how industry controls politicians. Translation of an article by CORRECTIV.
ghost writer
Lobbying the EU

Copy, paste, govern

Microsoft ghostwrote EU policy that keeps data centres' energy use secret
15.04.2026
The EU Commission’s policy on data centres keeps information on individual centres' energy and water use under wraps. Research now reveals the Commission copied and pasted an amendment suggested by Microsoft and Digital Europe. The aim? In the face of growing resistance, to prevent NGOs from obtaining information on data centres.
dereg lobby tour

Free lobby tour on the EU's deregulation frenzy

Join us for a free lobby tour of Brussels on 23rd April and 28th May at 5pm
14.04.2026
The European Commission’s deregulation frenzy means attacks on labour rights, climate policies, nature protection, public health. Join us if you want to know more! Sign in: [email protected]
seeds patented
Food & agriculture

Biotech lobby groups are set to trap farmers and breeders in patent minefield

Deregulation of new GM crops will increase seed market concentration, undermine resilience of the food system
12.04.2026
A new EU law that would scrap any safety or labeling rules for a class of new GM crops (called NGTs), is in its final stages. As all GM crops are covered by patents, this will negatively impact the way our food is produced – meaning more market power in the hands of just a handful of corporations, less choice in seeds for farmers, and more bureaucratic hurdles for smaller plant breeders. Industry tries to brush aside widespread concerns about patents, using flawed arguments. MEPs now have a final opportunity to curb patents on food and other crops.
Flyer for the event with all the relevant info on, against a photo of Mpho Selemela, from VEJA, pointing at an ArcelorMittal steel plant in the Vaal Triangle
Climate

UK Premiere: The Scramble for Hydrogen in South Africa

May 5th, 2026
09.04.2026
Join us on May 5th in London for the UK premier of The Scramble for Hydrogen in South Africa
cover report
Lobbying the EU

This is what corporate capture looks like!

Report: How corporations run the EU deregulation agenda
01.04.2026
Where do the EU deregulation laws come from? From extensive talks between the European Commission and business groups, often in opaque new types of dialogue, according to the report “This is what corporate capture looks like!”
thumbnail
Food & agriculture

The Pollution Playbook: How industry blocks regulation of toxic chemicals

New episode of EU Watchdog Radio
26.03.2026
Check out our new podcast episode with Nina Holland, Rachel Radvany and Olivier de Schutter.
Cover image showing social media posts of tech CEO's and far right actors attacking the EU's digital regulations
Lobbying the EU

Inside the far-right network targeting Europe’s digital rules

25.03.2026
The Trump administration and a network of far-right think tanks are increasingly targeting the EU’s digital regulations and rules on content moderation. Far-right MEPs have taken over these narratives, while tech companies are hoping to exploit the opportunity.
Gas pipeline with a text written on a blue box saying: "70 civil society organisations urge MEPs to focus on electricity grids, and cut hydrogen and gas pipelines from EU priority energy infrastructure list"
Climate

70 civil society organisations urge MEPs to focus on electricity grids, and cut hydrogen and gas pipelines from EU priority energy infrastructure list

23.03.2026
Ahead of the European Parliament plenary vote on 26 March 2026 on an objection to the delegated act setting out the second list of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), 70 civil society organisations have called on parliamentarians to reject the list in its current form.
Save Bees and Farmers
Food & agriculture

Sign now: Reject the Food-Feed Omnibus

Stand up for better pesticide safeguards - for health, bees and farmers
22.03.2026
Take action now, and tell your Minister that harmful pesticides should not stay on the market indefinitely, that independent scientific research should not be ignored, and that pesticide approvals should be improved, not weakened. This plan would take us back many years, but it still can be changed!
Banner that says "deregulation watch" and has photos of Ursula von der Leyen, Elon Musk and Mario Draghi and the words competitiveness, simplification, overregulation, red tape, regulatory burdens
Lobbying the EU

Deregulation Watch

Helping civil society monitor the deregulation agenda
12.03.2026
Check out our new posts on Deregulation Watch which helps civil society monitor new developments in the deregulation agenda, assess what’s at stake, and organise in defence of strong social, environmental, and human rights protections.
All articles

Visit our EU lobby data website

Lobbyfacts.eu Exposing lobbying in the European institutions - screenshot of a file
Visit our EU lobby data website

EU Watchdog Radio

Discover all podcast episodes here
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New episode of EU Watchdog Radio: The Pollution Playbook: How industry blocks regulation of toxic chemicals
Listen now

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Flagship reports

Frontpage for the report This is what corporate capture looks like!

This is what corporate capture looks like!

01.04.2026

Where do the EU deregulation laws come from? From extensive talks between the European Commission and business groups, often in opaque new types of dialogue, according to the report “This is what corporate capture looks like!”

 

Chemical reaction thumbnail

Chemical reaction

14.01.2025

The proposal to restrict PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ is at serious risk of being hijacked by corporate lobbying, says a new CEO report. Find out more, including about the Forever Lobbying Project, a ground-breaking journalistic investigation. 

Front cover of new report from CEO, The Scramble For Hydrogen In South Africa: how frontline communities are impacted by the EU's green extractivism. There is a picture of local Nama community leader Andries Joseph, pointing over a fenced-off arid area

The scramble for hydrogen in South Africa

05.12.2024

Europe’s scramble for green hydrogen in South Africa will have a devastating impact on local communities, the very same ones whose voices are being ignored by EU policy makers.

Cold homes, hot profits cover image

Cold homes, hot profits

24.10.2023

From Rome to Prague, Brussels to London, politicians are welcoming fossil fuel companies as advisers instead of arsonists, failing to recognise their vested interests and their role in creating, prolonging, and profiting from the energy crisis. 

Barriers with "Single Market Enforcement" stand on a green background with the title "30 years of EU Single Market: Time to remove the obstacles to social-ecological transformation" on a blue wavy background

30 Years of EU Single Market

21.06.2023

Our new report exposes how corporations have used the EU Single Market to obstruct progressive legislation like social housing measures, progressive healthcare reforms, protection from harmful substances as well bans on short-distance flights.

cover long German great hydrogen race

Germany’s great hydrogen race

23.03.2023

Our new report maps Germany’s 'brave new hydrogen world'. Which looks a lot like the old world: prolonging fossil fuel use and continuing its extractivist logic. We show who is driving the German – and thus EU – hydrogen hype, who benefits, and the negative impacts for prospective green hydrogen export countries.

All reports
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Corporate Europe Observatory is recognised by the Dutch tax office as a charitable institution (ANBI) under fiscal number 806634558. Legal and fiscal information can be found here.

Who funds us

Our funding policy rejects funding from EU institutions and corporations in order to maintain the independence of our research. See which grant-making foundations are supporting us.

Lobby transparency

Corporate Europe Observatory is registered in the EU lobby transparency register under identification number 5353162366-85.

 

 

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