eu lobbying

EU lobbying

European Union Institutions and Policies, PAP-53306

November 15, 2012

Gerard Breeman and Jeroen Candel, Public Administration Group

What is lobbying?

Lobbying ≠ bribing

Attempt to influence political decisions

On behalf of a group (e.g. industries, labour unions, NGOs)

Active wherever political decisions are made (e.g. Wageningen, Arnhem, The Hague, Brussels)

Who are those lobbyists?

About 3000 lobby groups with a permanent office in Brussels

Big variety: private vs. publlic, profit vs. non-profit

Industries form biggest group (about 70%)

Financial support (1 billion euro) for non-commercial interests (e.g. elderly, handicapped people, women)

How do those groups look like?

Most important form is European umbrella organization/ Eurofederation:

European secretariat: spider in the web

General assembly: formal decisions

Executive committee: supervision and short term decisions

What do they do? (1)

Networks and coalitions:

Sources information

Feel own position out

Provide access

Coordinating positions and strategies

What do they do? (2)

Strategies:

Inside lobbying

Outside lobbying

What’s their value?

Information and expertise

Grassroots support implementation

Lobby routes

Institutionalized (e.g. ESC, COR) vs. non-institutionalized

National, European, international

Consequences lobbying (1)

Democratic? Two visions:

1. Groups can make themselves heard; open system; possibilities for groups that are not heard on national level (e.g. Roma)

2. Disadvantage for groups that rely on outside lobbying; some categories better represented than others; ‘backroom politics’

Consequences lobbying (2)

Winners and losers in EU?

1. Groups that rely on inside lobbying have advantage

2. Small, flexible groups more effective in being active on multiple governance levels

3. More opportunities for groups that seek change, than for groups that defend status quo

In general: industries + small and flexible NGOs are winners, traditional ‘mass organizations’ losers

Thank you for your kind attention!

Any questions?

Gerard.breeman@wur.nl/ Jeroen.candel@wur.nl

www.wageningenur.nl/pap

Twitter: @JeroenWUR & @GBreeman