MSL Germany - Public Affairs Survey 2015 (engl.)

1. Public Affairs- Survey 2015

2. For the 14th consecutive year, we asked public affairs professionals in Germany to evaluate the political status quo and tell us about the latest developments in the public affairs sector. The following is a summary of the key results of this year’s survey: Confidence in politics restored Following a notable dip in the first year of the Grand Coalition (22 per cent), confidence in politicians and their actions bounced back this year, with 39 per cent of respondents saying that politicians were ‘reliable partners’. Christian Democrats received the greatest vote of confidence. 89 per cent of respondents considered their relationships with the CDU to be ‘constructive’. Government’s approval ratings improve Similarly, confidence in the Grand Coalition’s performance went up. 57 per cent said that the Federal Government was doing a ‘good job’, an improvement of 14 per cent on last year. Especially the Government’s foreign trade policy, which includes TTIP, was rated favourably by public affairs professionals. Opposition parties (i. e. Greens and Left Party), on the other hand, were given negative ratings. Public affairs spending goes up Corporations and trade associations increased their spending on public affairs in the past 12 months. 39 per cent spent more on public affairs personnel, while 45 per cent increased their spending on external service providers, including consulting work. Of these, more than half favoured full-service consultancies with a strong public affairs offering, as opposed to public affairs only outfits or law firms. Digital public affairs continues to grow The use of social media is becoming even more com- monplace in public affairs. 52 per cent of respondents use Twitter, while 36 per cent rely on Facebook, 29 per cent on the German-centric career platform Xing, and 25 per cent on its international counterpart LinkedIn.

3. Policy-makers … Do you consider policy-makers to be reliable partners for your company/association? 45 % … are already less reliable partners today 2 % … are no longer reliable partners 14 % … will be less reliable partners in future 39 % … are, and will remain, reliable partners 3 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

4. With which political party, or parties, do you work most closely? (multiple answers possible) The Left 4 % Liberals 29 % Green Party 16 % Social Democrats 59 % Christian Social Democrats 34 % Christian Democrats 89 % 4 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

5. 2 % no answer 57 % good 41 % poor How do you evaluate the Grand Coalition’s performance after the first half of the current legislative term? 5 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

6. How do you rate the federal government’s performance? (in the following policy areas) verygood good poor verypoor noanswer Energy Transportand infastructure DigitalPolicy Laborand SocialAffairs Defense Foodand Agriculture 29 % 34 % 30 % 2 % 5 % 4 % 2 % 39 % 37 % 20 % 7 % 2 % 18 % 50 % 23 % 2 % 21 % 43 % 23 % 11 % 2 % 48 % 29 % 1 % 4 % 5 % 32 % 45 % 14 % 20 % 1/2 6 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

7. Consumer Protection Environment TaxandFinance Economy Education,Research, Technologyandinnovation Health ForeignTrade 16 % 14 % 7 % 61 % 2 % 50 % 36 % 9% 2 % 3 % 46 % 11 % 38% 4 % 1 % 7 % 5 % 2 % 43 % 43% 0 % 39 % 34% 11 % 16 % 12 % 25 % 59 % 4 % 0 % 14 % 11 % 73 % 2 % 0 % verygood good poor verypoor noanswer 2/2 How do you rate the federal government’s performance? (in the following policy areas) 7 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

8. Did you increase or decrease resources allocated to public affairs the past year? (multiple answers possible) 5 % No change 5 % No answer 5 % No change 5 % No answer 45 % We allocated more financial resources to public affairs 39 % We allocated more human resources to public affairs 20 % We allocated fewer financial resources to public affairs 32 % We allocated fewer human resources to public affairs human resources finance 8 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

9. 13 % Agencies specialized on public affairs 55 % Full-service agencies with expertise in public affairs 10 % Business consultancies 8 % Law firms 12 % Independant consultants Which types of consultancy do you work with? (multiple answers possible) 9 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

10. MSL Germany Public Affairs-Umfrage 201510 When using digital channels in your public affairs work, which ones do you use? (multiple answers possible) YouTube 14 % Facebook 36 % Twitter 52 % Xing 29 % Blogs 13 % Own policy channel / Micro-Site 7 % LinkedIn 25 % 5 % Wikipedia 2 % Periscope 2 % Instagram 10 MSL Germany Public Affairs Survey 2015

11. facebook: www.facebook.com/MSLGroupGermany twitter: @MSL_Germany The complete survey in German is available for download here: www.mslgroup.de For more information please contact Simon Temps: Phone: + 49 30 / 820 82 – 525 | E-Mail: simon.temps@mslgroup.com MSL Group Germany GmbH Leibnizstraße 65, 10629 Berlin