1. EU lobbying
European Union Institutions and Policies, PAP-53306
November 15, 2012
Gerard Breeman and Jeroen Candel, Public Administration
Group
2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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
5. What do they do? (1)
Networks and coalitions:
Sources information
Feel own position out
Provide access
Coordinating positions and strategies
6. What do they do? (2)
Strategies:
Inside lobbying
Outside lobbying
7. What’s their value?
Information and expertise
Grassroots support implementation
9. 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’
10.
11. 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
12. Thank you for your kind attention!
Any questions?
Gerard.breeman@wur.nl/ Jeroen.candel@wur.nl
www.wageningenur.nl/pap
Twitter: @JeroenWUR & @GBreeman