Martin Pigeon

Lobbies in Brussels

"[...] between 20 and 30,000 lobbyists today represent business interests alone in Brussels, a strike force that public authorities and organized civil society are generally unable to counter effectively [...]" Corporate...

Analysis, resistance and alternatives to corporate Europe

On May 5 and 6, we organized a conference in Brussels on the theme of the crisis in Europe, "The EU in crisis - analysis, resistance and alternatives to corporate Europe". The pretext was the 15th anniversary of CEO...

Faster, higher, stronger *

Dear Kairos readers, We hear it every day, it is the crisis in Europe, and, because the EU is not (yet?) a democracy, decisions are taken without any real possibility for the citizens to contest them by sending their...

Freewheeling lobbies

Hydrofluorocarbons (or HFCs) are synthetic gases used for refrigeration, introduced following the banning of their predecessors, CFCs, which were great eaters of atmospheric ozone. HFCs do not have the same nibbling...

European Union: towards a « post-democratic autocracy »?

This title may seem provocative. However, it is a cry of alarm launched by the philosopher Jürgen Habermas, a historical supporter of the European integration project. What's going on? As feared, the European Commission...

Austerity, injustice, technocracy: best wishes!

The Belgian state is currently being sued by the second largest Chinese insurer, Ping An, before an international tribunal under the World Trade Organization (WTO), the ICSID. The reason? When Belgium intervened in...

Business in secret

Are we going to see the appearance of a "business secrets" label for companies, comparable to the "defense secrets" of States? The latter allows them to object to the publication of certain information that is too...

FOR A EUROPEAN SPRING

The astonishing severity of this winter, apparently due to the historically low level of ice in the Arctic Ocean, which would have disrupted currents and winds, is a reminder of the existence of ongoing climate disturbances....

DEMOCRATIC EUROPE OR THE GREAT TRANSATLANTIC MARKET? AT THE CROSSROADS

The negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) seem to have partially emerged from anonymity, with the European elections. From now on, more and more people in Belgium and elsewhere...