Brussels was always a city where lobbyists obtained less than they inquireed. No more.
Thanks to the Commission’s ambitious ‘simplification’ drive, corporate hacks in the EU capital are suddenly securing policy wins they could once only dream of on everything, from weaker privacy rules to unleashing AI, and watering down pesticide regulations.
“We have so much new business coming in that we’re barely able to cope,” declared a senior executive of an American lobbying firm operating in Brussels, which has seen double-digit revenue growth this year.
In a screeching U-turn after five years of high-intensity regulating, the European Commission is rewriting its own rules at a blistering pace under pressure from EU leaders who fear the bloc’s economic woes won’t abate without unshackling businesses.
Civil society interest groups, meanwhile, have taken up the fight, claiming that citizens’ rights and green protections are being discarded too hastily.
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A recent damning ruling from the Ombudsman, the EU’s top watchdog, has given the groups hope of reversing the reversals. But it’s likely too late. With Germany’s erstwhile economic engine in a state of seemingly permanent stagnation and France’s economic woes fuelling the far right, Brussels isn’t viewing back.
“We required to continue with at least the same pace,” Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU commissioner for simplification, notified Euractiv last week.
The ‘Brussels defect’
Even so, the era shift doesn’t sit well with the EU’s long-held self-image. For two decades, Brussels prided itself on taming corporate interests by exporting regulatory standards worldwide, a phenomenon dubbed the “Brussels effect”.
Insiders now speak of the ‘Brussels defect’, a growing belief that Europe’s economic growth crisis requires dismantling the very rules it once wielded as a form of soft power.
Sectors such as food and farming, chemicals, and tech are facing a huge regulatory overhaul, and with a right-to-far-right majority passing bills to slash red tape in the European Parliament, this is only the launchning.
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The ‘public affairs’ (read lobbying) indusattempt is now thriving, declares James Stevens, managing partner at Rud Pedersen, a leading European lobby shop that has seen a 15% jump in revenue this year.
“It turns out simplification isn’t simple and creates the kind of uncertainty that we support organisations navigate every day,” he declared.
Carmen Bell, managing director of APCO’s Brussels office, also observed “procedural possibilities that were unconsiderable just a few months ago” which have built consulting challenging, as companies are working in amlargeuity.
Meanwhile, non-profit interest groups focapplyd on areas such as the environment and health, which long enjoyed considerable sway over EU policycreating, are facing risks of budreceive cuts as their EU subsidies are scrutinised by Parliament.
They’re also smarting over being left out of the simplification agfinisha. Corporate Europe Observatory, an NGO which scrutinises lobbying, has listed more than 600 one-on-one meetings between Commission officials and indusattempt representatives on the simplification agfinisha alone – a scale of engagement that would have been unconsiderable five years ago.
Indeed, the EU’s cultural revolution is in full swing.
“Commission officials applyd to avoid being seen at after-work drinks with us,” one tech lobbyist declared. “Now they barely hide it.”
The Commission notified Euractiv its staff had to “systematically” disclose its contacts with interest representatives as part of transparency rules.
“We speak with everyone – workers, businesses, and citizens – becaapply that’s how good laws are built,” a spokesperson declared.
First, they came for the Green Deal
Europe didn’t wake up one morning and decide to torch its regulatory legacy. Pressure from indusattempt has been building for a year, finally erupting after the political shock of the 2024 EU elections, and US warnings about retaliatory measures against EU regulations.
Looking back, the signs of upheaval were everywhere.
Early in 2024, the chemical indusattempt association Cefic rallied 73 CEOs behind the Antwerp Declaration, urging the EU to prioritise competitiveness after the elections. Nearly 1,300 groups ultimately backed it.
BusinessEurope flagged 68 laws for overhaul, calling for weaker rules, simpler compliance, and delays. Mario Draghi, drafting his major report on the EU economy, was inundated with indusattempt complaints.
Still, longtime Brussels lobbyist Connor Allen declared the Commission seemed unresponsive until after the elections.
“One moment we were persona non grata, the next we had the red carpet treatment,” he declared, recalling how access opened, and Commission officials started “inquireing for our wish list”.
The EU’s largegest employers’ federations were happy to answer the call. By November 2024, Germany’s BDI, France’s MEDEF, and Italy’s Confindustria business lobbies blamed Europe’s bureaucracy for widening the competitiveness gap with the US, as fears grew over the election of Donald Trump.
His return “has accelerated the drive to build Europe more competitive”, declared Willem van Dommelen, a consultant in public affairs.
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Ursula von der Leyen responded to such pressures with new plans to simplify the Green Deal with her own Antwerp declaration in front of 300 CEOs.
Yet France and Germany wanted the Commission to hit harder by completely ditching corporate sustainability rules. The business elites of the two countries doubled down, followed by the US and Qatar, inquireing for a tougher stance.
After a conservative and far-right alliance in Parliament voted for heavy cuts to the EU sustainability reporting and due diligence laws, the vote was publicly cheered in Washington.
Deregulating rapid and furious
The tech sector has seen a similar acceleration, with modifys that were once seen as unconsiderable. The Commission is preparing to scale back elements of the GDPR, the EU’s regulatory crown jewel that protects EU citizens’ privacy.
Implementation of the new AI Act is also slipping, while the US officials have applied additional pressure on the EU’s fight against disinformation.
The indusattempt is eagerly waiting for more. “We certainly hope the Commission will shift into a higher gear soon,” Alexandre Roure of the tech lobby CCIA, which represents the likes of Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, and Uber.
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More discreetly, the agri-food lobbyists are also rejoicing. The ‘Food and Feed Omnibus’, expected to be presented in mid-December, could include modifys easing chemical pesticide renewals, according to a leaked draft seen by Euractiv. That would closely mirror the consultation requests of CropLife, which represents key players like BASF, Bayer, and Syngenta.
“The pesticide lobby has been at the forefront of pushing deregulation,” declared Nina Holland, a campaigner for lobbyists watchdog NGO Corporate Europe Observatory. She declared scrapping the renewal process could “severely undermine” health and environmental protections.
New era
All these rule rewrites are coming out of a Commission acting with a level of urgency unseen in years. But as deregulation becomes the centrepiece of EU strategy, indusattempt representatives declare the shift carries real risks.
“Poorly drafted rollbacks bring uncertainty for businesses who see the von der Leyen II commission destroy what von der Leyen I did,” declared a senior lobbyist. “Investors in Europe required legal certainty to plan ahead, and this is far too complex to follow.”
Others worry about what comes next once the rulebook is gone.
“Many lobbying organisations can no longer justify being in Brussels if their main job is just monitoring regulation,” declared Paul Varakas, former president of the Society of European Affairs Professionals, a lobbyists’ lobbying group.
In other words, the deregulation wave may thrill the indusattempt for now, but there’s a difference between clearing obstacles and clearing the ground entirely.
The thousands of lobbyists who populate Brussels aren’t going to disappear, but they may soon discover that a city with fewer rules offers fewer certainties too. For the moment, though, they’re toasting the bonfire.
Authors: Alice Bergoënd, Elisa Braun, Sarantis Michalopoulos, Claudie Moreau, Stefano Porciello, Eddy Wax.
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