Dear Friends,
Thank you for voting in the Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008. With your help, we reached over 8,500 votes this year.
The Worst Conflict of Interest Award 2008 went to Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi, who collected 26% of the votes in this category. The Worst EU Lobbying Award 2008 was won convincingly by the agrofuel lobbyists of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Brazilian sugar barons UNICA and energy company Abengoa Bioenergy, who got over half of the votes in this category.
For the full result of this year’s vote, see: http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/home.
Watch a short movie about the International Biofuels Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, featuring a UNICA lobbyist explaining how UNICA works closely with the European Commission : .
On 9 December, the winners were announced during a festive awards ceremony in the cosy Bouche à l'Oreille theatre in Brussels, within the perimeter of the EU quarter in Brussels. The evening was kicked off by Franco-Belgian band Afota, and a welcome speech by William Dinan of Spinwatch, one of the organisers of the Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008. Read the full text of Will’s welcome speech here : http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/uploads/Welcome-WEULA-2008.pdf.
Then our Masters of Ceremony, activist comedians Frank van Schaik (NL) and Mark Thomas (UK) took over the floor, making fun of winners and losers in both categories. Watch these on line video clips and pictures to get an impression of the evening : http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/news/tag/impressions_of_the_awards_ceremony.
Also, check out our overview of the media coverage of this year’s Worst EU Lobbying Awards : http://www.worstlobby.eu/2008/news/tag/media_coverage_worst_eu_lobbying_awards_2008.