Secret meetings of corporations: Steger warns of the dismantling of democracy!

Secret meetings of corporations: Steger warns of the dismantling of democracy!

On June 4, 2025, the FPÖ MEP Petra Steger was critical of the meeting of the SEDE Defense Committee, which took place behind closed doors. Steger reported on a meeting with Brad Smith, Vice President of Microsoft, to which only the group coordinators were invited. She sees this as a clear exclusion of parliamentary control and calls the situation a democratic political scandal.

Steger calls for more transparency and stronger parliamentary control in order to avoid elite agreements. It also asks the question of whether the EU wants a Europe of citizens or of corporations. She calls for an end to undemocratic practices and a return to basic parliamentary principles. Your appeal to question the interests of transnational corporations when making security policy decisions has been met with resonance.

Defense Committee Challenges

The future of the Defense Committee SEDE is currently in limbo. Despite a political consensus on the creation of an independent defense committee in the EU Parliament, internal disputes could jeopardize the timetable for a final decision. Given the geopolitical situation, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, MEPs are pushing for a more active role for the European Parliament in defense issues.

After the upcoming elections in June, the centrist factions could reach an agreement aimed at upgrading the subcommittee on defense and security to a full-fledged committee. This move is expected to coincide with the appointment of the EU's first defense commissioner by Ursula von der Leyen, while the future of the current subcommittee remains unclear.

Political resistance and the way forward

Various factions are struggling to find an overall package to promote the restructuring of the committee. While subcommittee chair Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann and other liberal members are optimistic, some Social Democrats are skeptical. These require a simultaneous upgrade of the subcommittee on human rights, which makes the discussions more complicated.

A fully-fledged committee could theoretically begin negotiations on EU legislation and advance EU programs. But opposition also comes from the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, who are concerned that their expertise is not being sufficiently taken into account in defense policy. The debate over the powers of the new Defense Committee and its possible transfers from the parent Committee on Foreign Affairs remains tense.

Additional considerations on transparency in political decision-making processes were discussed in the 2019 publication “Transparency in Politics? Limits, Problems and Unintended Consequences” by Leopold Ringel. This publication highlights the challenges of ensuring transparency in politics and may be relevant in the context of the current discussions on transparency in the Defense Committee.