Lobbying, transparency and trust: power imbalances and the failure to implement Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan

Abstract

In the Prevention Pillar of Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP), the European Commission made a series of commitments to promote better health for all, including proposals for new legislation on food and alcohol labelling. However, the implementation of these commitments has been paralysed. In this Viewpoint, we argue that this paralysis stems, in part at least, from insufficient incorporation of the principles of transparency and openness, which promote the accountability of policy actors through citizens' participation in the legislative process. This has led to a twofold problem: 1) the misplaced belief in the contribution that self-regulation can make to the promotion of healthier environments; and 2) the failure to adopt effective legally binding measures to regulate the commercial determinants of health, as the failure to publish the suite of legislative proposals promised in the EBCP epitomises.