Sir, Regarding ‘EU expert group calls for tightened financial supervision‘: A new report from Corporate Europe Observatory, entitled ‘Would you bank on them?’, tried to highlight the problems of privileged access and policy capture by vested interests that can result in flawed policies and regulations. In the report, we examined whether the group’s members represent [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘MEP: Use procurement process to ‘leverage innovation’‘: On behalf of small business innovators across Europe, I would like to congratulate MEP Malcolm Harbour for his success in getting through his report on pre-commercial procurement. This is a fine example of the ‘think small first’ principle put into action. Traditionally, SMEs have shied away [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘MEP goes on defensive over light bulb ban‘: CFL-type energy-saving lamps are hated by the 1-3% of the population who suffer from exposure to electromagnetic fields, like those emitted by CFLs. They cause electrically hypersensitive people to become ill. We investigated which EMFs cause these effects, and found that the CFLs consume electricity [...]

Sir, Ich beobachte die Aktivitäten der EU-Kommission schon seit einigen Jahren mit einiger Genugtuung. In letzter Zeit fällt mir aber auf, dass die Kommission im wesentlichen an Symptomen herumdoktert, statt sich der Wurzel zu nähern. Die liegt, meiner Ansicht nach, in der teilweise geradezu axiomatischen Bündelung von PC und Windows bei fast allen Anbietern. HP [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘MEP: EU needs new mindset to end deforestation‘: While I applaud public measures to tackle deforestation and biodiversity loss in the EU, I think it is also important to consider the role that the private sector can play. Last December, Epson launched a new biodiversity initiative in the Gardunha mountains in central Portugal, [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Single EU lobbyists’ register faces further delays‘ The discussion about an EU register for lobbyists in Brussels seems to be currently shifting to rather technical issues, forgetting the big picture. But lobbyists and institutions in Brussels should not lose sight of the broader perspective and learn from Washington’s experiences: both the good and [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Eastern Europe gripped by political instability‘: I think that it is not very precise to describe my country as a part of Eastern Europe. Latvia, like Finland and Sweden, is part of Northern Europe. Besides, she is a member of the EU and NATO. There is a fundamental difference between my country on [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Think tanks should ‘think European’ to fight global challenges‘: Europe has great independent experts from different member states, academics and NGOs. A think tank is a contracted lobby agency that produces agitation for the benefit of its contractors. We have many of them in the EU. They mostly serve a negative, not-at-all transparent [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘MEP: European research grants becoming ‘unattractive’‘: From a practical experience, the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN) agrees that applying for EU funds, especially for NGOs, is almost impossible. This holds for DG Research and DG Sanco, although the agency dealing with DG Sanco projects is more transparent. Nevertheless, the paperwork stays the [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU spending on R&D slips further behind US‘: Maybe if the private sector did not have to spend so much complying with the constant and growing flow of EU legislation they could spend more on R&D. Charles Marriott