A coalition of NGOs, comprised of Friends of the Earth Europe, the Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl and going under the banner LobbyFacts, has compiled a raft of data, extrapolated from the EU Transparency Register, to show the scale of lobbying of European Union politicians.
This LobbyFacts list ranks companies according to their declared expenditure on lobbying activities in the most recent year for which they have provided figures.
| Organisation Name | Country of contact | Lobbying costs |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Morris International Inc. | Switzerland | 5,000,000 - 5,250,000 € |
| ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical | Belgium | 4,750,000 - 5,000,000 € |
| Microsoft Corporation | United States | 4,500,000 - 4,750,000 € |
| Shell Companies | Netherlands | 4,250,000 - 4,500,000 € |
| Siemens AG | Germany | 4,355,792 € |
| GDF SUEZ | France | 3,750,000 - 4,000,000 € |
| General Electric Company | United States | 3,250,000 - 3,500,000 € |
| ASTRAMATIC, S.A.U. | Spain | 3,000,000 - 3,250,000 € |
| Huawei Technologies | China | 3,000,000 € |
| Bayer AG | Germany | 2,760,000 € |
This LobbyFacts list shows the number of registered lobby organisations per country of origin. However, please note that many lobby organisations are registered as being based in Belgium but they actually lobby on behalf of interests based in other countries.
| Country | Number of registered |
|---|---|
| Belgium | 1662 |
| Germany | 851 |
| France | 703 |
| United Kingdom | 658 |
| Italy | 616 |
| Spain | 411 |
| Netherlands | 344 |
| United States | 156 |
| Austria | 154 |
This LobbyFacts list ranks trade associations according to their declared expenditure on lobbying activities in the most recent year for which they have provided figures. The list can also be sorted per country.
| Organisation Name | Country of contact | Lobbying costs |
|---|---|---|
| Association for Financial Markets in Europe | United Kingdom | 10,000,000 € |
| Scottish Fishermen's Federation | United Kingdom | 7,750,000 - 8,000,000 € |
| European Chemical Industry Council | Belgium | 5,900,000 € |
| ANIA Association Nationale des Industries Alimentaires | France | 4,750,000 - 5,000,000 € |
| European Banking Federation | Belgium | 4,250,000 - 4,500,000 € |
| Association de l'Aviculture, de l'Industrie et du Commerce de Volailles dans les Pays de l'Union Europeenne asbl | Belgium | 4,000,000 - 4,250,000 € |
| BUSINESSEUROPE | Belgium | 4,000,000 - 4,250,000 € |
| Verband der Chemischen Industrie e.V. | Germany | 3,630,000 € |
| Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. | Germany | 3,100,000 € |
For more detail on these tables, please visit the LobbyFacts website.