Le Temps - Switzerland | Friday, October 19, 2007
Political leadership too indulgent with industrial lobbies
Facing global warming, Pierre Veya deplores the "Big lobbies loss of honour" in the car and petrol industries. "These two industries form such powerful oligopolies that they have been able to impose leniency norms [regarding the struggle against pollution], leaning on their assets and their undeniable contribution to the 'American Dream'. ... What will increasingly appear as strategic errors have been rendered possible by a political benevolence that has adopted the industrial discourse haloed with prestige as heroes of the nation. Leadership tend to fall into a classic political trap, succumbing to the weight carried by lobbies. Angela Merkel, for example, when the European Union decided to toughen antipollution norms, did not defend general interests, but the market shares of car manufacturers."
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