European Parliament Bans Amazon Lobbyists: A Blow to Corporate Accountability

TFD – The European Parliament’s decision to ban Amazon lobbyists marks a significant development in corporate accountability, shedding light on concerns over working conditions. Dive into the controversy with Dragoș Pîslaru, the lawmaker behind the ban, as tensions rise over transparency and responsibility in corporate governance. Stay engaged with the evolving discourse on corporate influence in legislative bodies.

Amazon has become the second company ever to have its lobbyists banned from the European Parliament, amid accusations that the company does not take the institution seriously.

The ban, which means the 14 Amazon employees who had access to the European Parliament can no longer enter the building without an invitation, follows the company’s decision not to attend a January hearing about working conditions inside its fulfillment centers. In December, Amazon also rejected MEPs’ [members of European Parliament] requests to tour its fulfillment centers, citing how busy they were over the Christmas period.

“This is not a serious way to treat the European Parliament,” says Dragoș Pîslaru, the Romanian MEP and chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, who formally requested the ban. We are not playing around when we say that we speak for 500 million people. You cannot just say that your senior representatives are not available when the parliament is asking you.”

Companies originating outside Europe should take the EU Parliament as seriously as the US Congress, he adds. “The European Parliament is not holding grudges,” he says. “This is about us requesting to be respected as an institution.”

The EU Parliament should be taken seriously by companies originating outside of Europe, much as the US Congress, he continues. He declares, “The European Parliament is not harboring resentment.” “This is about us asking to be taken seriously as an organization.”

Peşteslaru expresses concern over Amazon’s refusal to respond to calls and provide their case. “This isn’t just my personal viewpoint. This is based on the ideal functioning of the parliament.

After Amazon failed to show up in January, Pîslaru first asked that the company’s lobbying permits be canceled in a letter to the president of the house dated February 6. He stated in the letter, “This issue goes beyond disrespect for the European parliament; it concerns the fundamental rights, well-being, and working conditions of hundreds of thousands of Europeans employed in Amazon warehouses.” The letter also stated that Amazon should not be allowed to lobby MEPs while preventing them from looking into the company’s labor abuses.

According to Pîslaru, the proposal to bar Amazon’s lobbyist dates back to 2021, when the business turned down an invitation from the European Parliament to participate in a further inquiry on labor conditions. However, the European Parliament said last night that Amazon lobbyists’ access badges would be cancelled in response to his letter from February. That means Amazon becomes the second company ever to have their access to the European Parliament revoked, following a ban on Roundup-maker Monsanto in 2017. The Monsanto embargo persisted until the following year, when Bayer purchased the company.

Amazon expressed its disappointment with the decision in a statement that was posted on its website. The hearing in January was characterized by the company as “one-sided and not designed to encourage constructive debate,” even though it was not present. Committee members and employees have received “dozens of invitations” from the corporation to visit its facilities, according to the statement. Amazon invited Pîslaru’s committee to tour one of its eighty European fulfillment locations in a letter dated February 5. But according to Pîslaru, official EU missions aren’t permitted to happen so close to the EU elections in June. “They seemed willing to invite us even though they knew we couldn’t go.”

According to Pîslaru, once the EU’s employment committee determines that Amazon is genuinely prepared to collaborate, the company’s lobbying passes can be reinstated. Given that MEPs are rushing to complete unfinished legislation and get ready for their campaigns, it is unlikely that will occur before the elections. Lobbyists for Amazon are only permitted entry into the EU Parliament upon invitation from staff members until their passes are reinstituted. “They can still meet with and lobby specific MEPs outside of parliament,” says Bram Vranken, a Big Tech researcher at the advocacy organization Corporate Europe Observatory. “Mostly, it’s a very significant political signal that the company crossed a line.”

The prohibition, in Vranken’s opinion, is a decent starting point. He states, “We would like to see the ban made permanent and extended to all Big Tech companies,” adding that doing so will stop those businesses from undermining important laws.

According to Pîslaru, “having a permanent ban is not necessarily justified.” “Unless, of course, their actions carry on disparaging the organization in the future.”