Corporate
Europe Observatory
The car
manufacturing industry is traditionally one of Brussels' strongest,
and has a particularly German flavour. But the recent scandal
engulfing Volkswagen (VW – who also make Audi) and potentially
others shows that if Europe is serious about regulating the car
industry and protecting public health and the climate, it needs to
stand up to the car lobby rather than allowing those resisting
regulation to write it.
In 2014, car
manufacturers and their trade associations spent more than €18
million lobbying in Brussels. [...] the top three industry spenders
are well-known German manufacturers Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler.
Volkswagen is by far the biggest spender, with almost €3.5 million
spend in 2014, almost five times the spending of the biggest
non-German manufacturer, Fiat-Chrysler (€700,000).
The big
German car manufacturers have also been increasing their lobby
efforts over the years. A look at the historical data in the
transparency register shows that both spending and the number of
lobbyists employed have massively increased since 2010. At the start
of the decade VW declared only a quarter of its 2014 spending
(€800,000), while 2013 spending still only reached just over
half-way (€1,250,000). We can expect 2015 to be even higher –
reputational management doesn't come cheap in the Brussels Bubble.
Daimler has been declaring relatively stable lobby spendings
(actually steadily decreasing by €300,000), while BMW, like VW,
doubled its spending between 2013-2014, from €800,000 to €1.5m.
Car
manufacturers' trade associations are also important lobbyists in
Brussels. The European-level association, ACEA (Association des
Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles), has 16 dedicated lobbyists
and spent up to €2.5m last year on the activity. ACEA represents
all the big brands currently engulfed in the emissions-cheating
scandal – either as guilty (VW) or forced to claim their innocence
(Daimler and BMW). Between it and its members, ACEA accounts for 80%
of all car manufacturers lobby spending in Brussels and almost half
of all the industry's lobbyists. Tellingly, the German car
manufacturers' association, Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), has
the same budget as ACEA (€2.5m) and almost double the number of
lobbyists (31). But VW, BMW and Daimler are all also corporate
members of BusinessEurope, one of the most influential lobby groups
at the EU level, giving them extra lobby firepower.
Car industry
lobbyists are also very present in the Commission's advisory groups,
formally known as expert groups, which have drafted important
legislation. VW sits in five different groups, often with other
manufacturers or trade associations. VW, Daimler and ACEA sit in the
Working Group on Motor Vehicles, while all three are joined by BMW
and VDA in the iMobility Forum. ACEA also sits on the Review of EU
Air Policy Expert Group.
The European
car industry has been successfully flexing its muscles for decades:
back in the mid-90s it successfully lobbied against binding emissions
targets, instead proposing a voluntary, industry-led scheme. The
scheme failed – industry did not meet its voluntary target – but
managed to delay binding targets for a decade.
Source
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