The amount of money businesses spend on lobbying in Europe has reached unprecedented levels, according to research by the Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl.

According to the report, companies spending more than €1 million annually have increased their budgets by a third compared to 2020, while in 2024 alone they spent €41 million more, with the authors attributing the result to the deregulatory agenda of Ursula von der Leyen‘s second term as Commission president.

In particular, the 162 companies that report having a lobbying budget of more than €1 million on the EU Transparency Register list spent at least €343 million on lobbying in 2024

This total equates to a 13% increase compared to the previous similar survey a year ago.

In fact, it is possible that the officially announced numbers could be higher, the authors of the survey write.

 Who spends the most

The report also lists the business sectors that have spent the most money.

At the top of the list are tech companies such as Meta and Microsoft, as together they all spent €67 million to influence Brussels.

Banks and financial sector companies such as the Association for Financial Markets in Europe and the European Banking Federation come second, spending €53.75 million.

Energy companies with names like FuelsEurope and Shell followed with €45 million, chemical and fertilizer companies (including the European Chemical Industry Council and Bayer) with €45 million, trade associations like BusinessEurope and the Federation of German Industries with €26.25 million, pharmaceutical companies like the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and Novartis with €21.75 million.

The European Federation of Federations of Industrialists and Entrepreneurship (EBF) and the Federation of European Business Associations (EBF) have contributed €21.75 million.

Read the survey HERE