Brussels is probably second only to Washington DC when it comes to the number of lobbyists knocking about. Sit down in any cafe near the European Parliament or the European Commission and you won’t be far from one.
As the source of a significant amount of the regulations that will later be written into national law, all of the major industries put huge weight behind efforts to influence the EU policymaking process.
The pharmaceutical industry runs one of the largest lobbying operations, spending millions of euros and political capital to shape, gut or delay new laws and rules.
Under internal pressure from her own centre-right allies, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has promised her second term at the top of the EU’s lawmaking arm will be one that cuts back, rather than adds, red tape.
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This policy of “simplification” has set off a stampede of European industry and business groups eager to shove legislation they don’t like on to the chopping block.
Documents obtained by The Irish Times show the pharma industry has one law in particular on its hit list.
Passed only late last year, the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive puts obligations on states to remove harmful micro-pollutants from urban waste water. The law will make two big polluters, the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, pick up most of the tab for the increased cost of treating waste water.
In a February 10th email, the pharma industry’s Brussels lobbying arm pressed the commission to review the new law as part of its “simplification” agenda.
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (Efpia) told Teresa Ribera, EU commissioner for the climate transition, that the law lacked “a fair and equitable distribution of responsibilities among all polluters”.
[ Inside the pharma industry’s lobbying campaign to water down reformsOpens in new window ]
The lobby group, who represent Pfizer, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novo Nordisk, Merck and many other pharma giants, said the new law would “deter” firms from investing in Europe.
In the appeal to Ms Ribera, Efpia asked for the financial contributions of the pharma sector towards waste water treatment be capped. The number of industries that had to cough up cash should also be broadened, the lobby group said.
The correspondence from Efpia to the left-wing Spanish commissioner was released in response to an Access to Information request.
“A fair, balanced and predictable framework is essential to ensure both regulatory clarity and a business environment that strengthens innovation and sustainability in Europe’s economy,” the correspondence said.
In a December 2024 letter to Ms Ribera, Farmaindustria, the trade body representing Spanish pharma companies, said attempts to address environmental concerns had to take account of the “unique and exceptional value” that medicines provided to society.
The commission is expected to announce several environmental laws it plans to “simplify” later this year. A spokesman for the EU’s executive body would not comment on whether the urban waste water directive might be included.
Efpia is also challenging the law in the European courts, arguing it is discriminatory.
Big Pharma is separately ready to chalk up a significant win on another front, following an intensive lobbying campaign targeting national capitals and the EU institutions.
The industry brought its influence operation to bear on proposed reforms that would cut the amount of years companies have exclusive rights to sell new medicines they develop, before cheaper generic competitors can enter the market.
The idea was to incentivise drug makers to roll out new medicines in poorer and smaller EU states more quickly, in exchange for additional years of regulatory “protection” from generic rivals.
The industry looks to have successfully spiked those proposed changes, in an upcoming overhaul of regulations governing the sector.
Negotiations to finalise those new regulations are ongoing, involving the commission, diplomats from national capitals, and the European Parliament. It is likely a compromise will be worked out by early next year, if not before the end of this one.
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The commission seems certain to back down on its original idea, to attach strings to the number of years companies enjoy market dominance when developing new drugs.
The proposal, similar to the new waste water rules, was conceived during von der Leyen’s first term in office, which was defined by ambitious climate legislation and rules reining in tech and social media giants. Much of that legislation is now under attack.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is the party of German chancellor Friedrich Merz and von der Leyen herself, is successfully pushing to delay or scrap new climate rules, such as a law to stop Europe contributing to deforestation abroad.
There has been a definite rightward shift in how policy debates are framed in Brussels over the last year and a half. Regulation aimed at raising standards in some sector or field, or improving conditions for ordinary people, is now burdensome “red tape” holding back businesses.
The commission would deny it, but its Berlaymont headquarters has become a much warmer house to industry groups complaining about how various rules are hurting Europe’s economic competitiveness. The growing pile of “slashed” red tape on the floor proves their argument is landing.
