European Policy Centre
The European Policy Center (EPC) is a Brussels think tank with excellent connections to EU institutions and top personnel. A number of large companies and business associations use it to influence EU policy. For example, the EPC was exposed as a front organization for a corporate alliance led by the tobacco industry in the 1990s.
Contents
Partners
Strategic partners are the King Baudoin Foundation, the Mercator Foundation and the Adessium Foundation. Other partners include the German Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for European Reform, the CIA-close German Marshall Fund and Open Society Foundations, RUSI and other national think tanks. It is also part of the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN).[1][2]
Lobbying strategy and influence
Among the advantages of membership, the EPC points to the unique access to its network of organizations as well as to EU Commissioners, EU Parliamentarians, high-ranking representatives of EU institutions and international organizations who regularly appear at the events.[3] Through its events and publications, it influences discussions about Europe and the important issues that the EU is facing. The EPC acts as a catalyst for new thinking and new solutions. Many members of the EPC are large companies and influential associations that can contribute their economic interests to the design of a new Europe via the contact options mentioned.
Contacting the EU is also made easier by the fact that former high-ranking representatives of EU institutions are involved in the EPC. For example, the President of the EPC, Herman Van Rompuy, chaired the European Council. Fabio Colasanti, Member of the General Assembly, is a former Director-General of the European Commission. Joaquin Almunia, member of the advisory board as well as the board, was EU competition commissioner. In 2020, the EPC organized around 240 events, due to the lockdowns, mainly online.[4] Furthermore, the EPC 2020 produced 101 publications. In addition, representatives of the EPC met a total of 57 times with members of the European Commission.[5]
History
The EPC was founded in 1997 by Stanley Crossick, Max Kohnstamm and John Palmer. The founding chairman was the lobbyist Stanley Crossick, founder of the Belmont European Community Office and the Belmont European Policy Center, among other things, and senior vice-chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (EC Committee).[6]
The EPC analyzes developments in the EU and draws up "reform" proposals, which it brings to the attention of representatives of the EU institutions. The main topics mentioned are: "European Politics and Institutions", "European Migration and Diversity", "Europe in the World", "Sustainable Prosperity for Europe", Europe's Political Economy" and "Social Europe & Well-being".
Front organization for the tobacco industry
In the 1990s, an alliance of large companies and business associations enforced that European laws should be examined in advance for their economic costs and that the affected sectors should be consulted in particular. In principle, the course of the European legislative procedure should be designed in such a way that one's own interests are represented as well as possible. The strategic alliance of large companies and trade associations was formed by Lucky Strike manufacturer British American Tobacco (BAT).
In order to increase the credibility of the lobbying campaign, the initiative should not be taken by BAT itself, but by a "front organization" that is as well-known as possible. The European Policy Center (EPC) was selected for this as a Brussels think tank with excellent connections to the EU administration. EPC, in turn, founded the "risk assessment forum" on behalf of BAT, which was intended as a platform for companies that are particularly affected by state regulation. This procedure became known through a study in the medical journal "Public Library of Science" in January 2010. After the publication, EPC said that the EPC had been fundamentally restructured since then.[7]
Sponsor
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Adessium Foundation | A secretive Dutch foundation that donates to projects backed by Western governments. |
Known Participants
35 of the 133 of the participants already have pages here:
| Participant | Description |
|---|---|
| Amazon | A monopoly/cartel online retailer with deep state connections. |
| Amnesty International | "Effectively, Amnesty International and AIUSA function as tools for the imperialist, colonial and genocidal policies of the United States, Britain, and Israel." Revolving leadership door with US government. |
| Apple | A tech company, in a corrupt duopoly with Microsoft, its effective social engineering of children during the 2010s and 2000s and its adaption of youth culture made it the most valuable company in the world. PRISM-member. Throws activists or anyone not a WEF-member of their platform in geopolitical dilemmas. Fashion industry and wage slavery promoter. |
| Bertelsmann Foundation | |
| Boeing | US based arms manufacturer which also makes civilian aircraft of sometimes dubious reliability. |
| Chevron | |
| Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise | The main employers' organisation in Norway. The Presidents and Director-Generals have a Bilderberg habit. |
| Council of Europe | IGO. Cannot make laws, but makes treaties. Accused of institutional (revolving door) corruption. Appears to bribe European & transcontinental countries. |
| Frans van Daele | Belgian diplomat and suspected deep state operative |
| Marta Dassù | Deep state connected general director of the international activities of Aspen Institute Italy. NATO, Trilateral Commission, European Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies... |
| Dow | |
| European Bank for Reconstruction and Development | |
| ExxonMobil | |
| The world's most popular social network, with over 1,000,000,000 users in 2014. | |
| Friedrich Naumann Foundation | |
| Anthony L. Gardner | U.S. Ambassador to the European Union. Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Senior non-resident fellow of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund. |
| German Institute for International and Security Affairs | |
| German Marshall Fund | |
| GlaxoSmithKline | |
| Global Internet/Skynet conglomerate | |
| Hanns Seidel Foundation | An important group in international parapolitical manipulation, active in Latin America, Fiji and other places. |
| Johnson & Johnson | |
| King Baudouin Foundation | |
| Federica Mogherini | Italian politician, WEF |
| Norwegian Shipowners' Association | |
| Open Society Foundations | A NGO operating in more countries than McDonald's. It has the tendency to support politicians (at times through astroturfing) and activists that get branded as "extreme left" as its founder is billionaire and bane of the pound George Soros. This polarizing perspective causes the abnormal influence of the OSF to go somewhat unanswered. |
| Oracle | Tech company with significant connections to the national security industry |
| George Pagoulatos | market liberal,very europhile Greek economist |
| Roche | Largest pharmaceutical company in the world |
| Wolfgang Schüssel | Chancellor of Austria 2000-2007 |
| Siemens | |
| Constanze Stelzenmüller | German editor and deep state operative of uncertain rank |
| Alexander Stubb | Finnish politician, YGL 2009, heavy WEF annual meeting habit |
| Loukas Tsoukalis | Greek economist, Bilderberg Steering committee |
| World Bank |
References
- ↑ members,board, corporate members (not complete list), and Strategic Council as of December 2022 https://www.epc.eu/en/members and Strategic Council as of January 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220127031435/https://www.epc.eu/en/strategic-council
- ↑ https://www.epc.eu/en/think-tank-partners
- ↑ https://www.epc.eu/en/about
- ↑ https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do?id=89632641000-47&isListLobbyistView=true
- ↑ https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do?id=89632641000-47&isListLobbyistView=true
- ↑ http://archive.corporateeurope.org/observer2/epc.html
- ↑ http://www.lobbycontrol.de/blog/index.php/2010/03/immer-erst-die-industrie-fragen/
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