Commission lands lobbying booby-prizes 

Corporate Europe Observatory , Friends of the Earth Europe , LobbyControl and Spinwatch , who claim to be "campaigning for an end to secrecy around lobbying in Brussels", 'honoured' the European Commission and other notable institutions on 13 December 2006 "for giving lobbyists too much access to EU lawmaking".

Commissioner Charlie McCreevy's internal market DG won in the 'worst privileged access' category, allegedly for "manipulating a consultation on EU patent policies".

Peter Mandelson and Günter Verheugen came in second and third respectively for, it was claimed, "opening the door wide to business lobbyists and installing unbalanced high-level working groups serving big business interests".

In the second category, for 'Worst EU lobbying' it was oil company ExxonMobil that picked up the honours, with PR firm Weber Shandwick taking second prize for "heading the office of a group that is pushing for equal access to cancer care in the EU, but not making clear the group was financed by pharmaceutical giant Roche".

More than 9,000 people voted online in the ceremony's second annual edition; some 15,000 lobbyists are involved in influencing Brussels policymakers. LobbyControl's Ulrich Müller, quoted in German daily FT Deutschland, said that "at least two thirds of all lobbyists represent business interests and are involved in virtually all law-making processes".

The European Commission has set up a voluntary register for lobbyists. However, critics say that only a mandatory register with full financial disclosure can keep the sector transparent.