Is corporate power undermining democracy in Europe?

That’s what the Transnational Institute (TNI) wants to know.

TNI will be holding a workshop this week at the Firenze 10 + 10 conference in Florence, Italy.

The workshop will be moderated by TNI’s Brid Brennan.

Speakers will include Gildas Jossec of AITEC, Olivier Hoedeman of the Corporate Europe Observatory, and Hilary Wainright of Red Pepper magazine.

The group will discuss how “corporate lobby groups see their longstanding demands implemented overnight at the expense of social rights, environmental regulation and public services.”

TNI claims that “the EU’s emphasis on free markets and deregulation in the last two decades was a crucial factor in causing the current crisis.”

“These flawed policies were heavily influenced by corporate lobbying, reflecting how big business had captured the policy-making processes in Brussels and in member states,” TNI says. “Following the crisis, the power of the financial lobbies – and their easy access to decision-makers – has ensured that only limited regulation has been introduced.”

The workshop will focus on the question of “how to organize strong citizens counter-power, to roll back corporate capture of decision-making and build a different Europe – a Europe that strengthens democracy on all levels and refuses to be run by big business.”