Downloaded 10 times
What is lobbying - Erasmus
- 1. Sara Magdalena Goldberger,Policy Advisor, PirateParty
- 2. European Union European Commission Executivebody, responsible for drafting laws, monitoring the treaties and the daily running for EU European Parliament Council of the European Union Government ministers European Council Heads of States
- 3. European Union –how it’s connected - II
- 4. Lisbon Treaty Entered intoforce 2009 Provide for ”EU Foreign Minister” and ”EU President” Reforming the system of the European Council presidencies More powers to the European Parliament Extending the scope of qualified majority voting to new areas
- 5. European Union –decision procedure Amendments Compromise Vote in Committee Amendments Compromise Vote in Plenary
- 6. The European Parliament legislativeprocess 1. Consultation 2. Consent 3. Legislative initiative 4. Other procedures 1. EP give opinion on proposed legislation before the Council adopts it 2. EP can veto. Normally only in relation to accession 3. EP initiate 1. Annual budget 2. Functioning on the Union 3. Own initiative reports 4. Monetary Union
- 7. The European Parliament– What’s so special? Only EU institution with legislative powers Only EU institution that is directly elected by the EU citizens Members of European Parliament elected for a 5 year period
- 8. EP – composition 766Members of European Parliament 28 Member States Seven political groups: − Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) − Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament − Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe − Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance − European Conservatives and Reformists Group − Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left − Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group
- 9. EP: Committees − ForeignAffairs − Human Rights − Security and Defence − Development − International Trade − Budgets − Budgetary Control − Economic and Monetary Affairs − Employment and Social Affairs − Environment, Public Health and Food Safety − Industry, Research and Energy − Internal Market and Consumer Protection − Transport and Tourism − Regional Development − Agriculture and Rural Development − Fisheries − Culture and Education − Legal Affairs − Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs − Constitutional Affairs − Women's Rights and Gender Equality − Petitions
- 10.
- 11. Crisis Issues Immediate Short lived Humanmistakes Facts are clear Rarely any moral disagreements Cleaning up the mess Underinformed public Societal vacuum Long lasting Lengthy and disputed decisions Factual Disagreement Moral disputes Coalition building Public is well-informed Institutional matrix
- 12. From crisis toissue p R E A S S U R E EMERGENCE RESOLUTION PERMANCENCE
- 13. Lobbying –Core questions Whois your audience – direct and indirect What is your aim What is the risk with your position What have you done to contain or limit the risk associated with your position What is your source of authority
- 14. Issues Management –Best practises cont’ 1. Is issues managment in place? Is there a scanning process in place to identify possible issues 1. Structural Indicator Once diagnosed, issues must be assigned to a particular employee – issues steward 1. Issues tracking system See issues matrix on other slide 1. Implementation indicator Issue ownership is clearly assigned at operational level with accountability and visible in reviews 1. Issues sponsorship Senior managers take active part 1. Trustee duties Senior managers accept they have a trust relationship towards its stakeholders 1. Vertical involvement How actively issues managment is involved in the strategy development 1. Horizontal involvment How broad is the issues management process and awareness e.g. are line managers aware of how issues affect them?
- 15. Issues Management –Best practices Chance that the issue materialize High Low Impact LowHigh
- 16. Who lobbies? Individuals Companies Organisations Non-governmental organisations Activists Governmentalorganisations Industry associations Other MEPs Government officials
- 17. Examples of lobbying– the good and the bad The Bad The Good REACH and Dow Chemical company REACH – Registration, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals How grass-roots stopped corporations Anti-Counter fitting Trade Agreement - ACTA
- 18. REACH and DowJones Intense lobbying both in Brussels and Member States: dinners, events, workshops 2003 June - NGOs deliver 22000 signatures supporting REACH Sept. - Joint letter from Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac & Gerard Schröder anti-REACH Dow CEO & President visit Greece to influence new commissioner and before Greece’s chair ’03 - New Commissioner: Mr. Dimas Secretary of State Powell sent 3 telegrams with instructions to US embassies to take direct action
- 19. ACTA and grassroots
- 20.
- 21. ACTA cont’ 25 February,2012 – THE anti-ACTA day 150 protest marches in 19 countries Second large protest 9 June 41 activist organisations co-operated – aimed at creating a broad coalition with protestes coming from different angles National and international petitions National German parliament e-petition collected 61.000 names in 1 month Financing through crowd sourcing
- 22. ACTA cont’ Tools Alternative legislativeproposals Petitions – national and EU wide Newsletters Events Twitter Facebook Internet activist groups in Member States
- 23.
- 24. How do youbecome a lobbyist? • Personally – Political Science and International communications • No educational requirements, but important to learn: To analyze information and develop a coherent political strategy. To stay informed and up to date on global and political issues. To predict which issues will stay important, which issues will fade from importance, and which issues will become important in the future
- 25. What is yourcampaign target? • What do you want to achieve with your lobby campaign? • Analyse what the proposed measure might mean for your stakeholders • Identifying your campaign target supports strategy development • Prepare your strategy by identifying: • Messages • Arguments • Timing • Whom to contact when
- 26. Which tools areused in lobbying? Legislative texts − Work with the European Commission in developing the legislative texts − Prepare alternative legisative texts and amendments − Meet with MEPs to try to influence them to introduce “your” changes “Market” analysis − What the expected outcomes of the legislative proposal − Why should the MEP listen to you? Corporate statements Personal meetings Social media (indirect) Media Events
- 27. Get your basicsright • Put yourself in the recipient‘s shoes − Ask yourself how you’d like to be contacted and many mistakes will be avoided “Dear Mr Engström, Further to some recent meetings, our members are concerned that there are some misunderstandings about transit controls. Please see the attached; as ever, we hope this helps and don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any queries. Yours sincerely,” • Spell out your acronyms − Unless you work for a well-known organisation like IBM; don't assume it's heard of • Introduce yourself and your organisation both in written and oral contacts • Update address and phone registers yearly
- 28. Keep in toucheven if there isn’t an issue • ”Just keeping in touch” is a good idea • Always something you can speak about and you'll be remembered easier • If you have information you feel could benefit an MEP in their work – pass it on even if you don't have an issue at hand
- 29. Do what yousay you’ll do • If you want to book a meeting – then book a meeting. Mailing someone telling them you will book a meeting with them and not doing so is unprofessional.
- 30. Plan ahead andcheck the calendar • Avoid getting caught unaware by subscribing to regular updates from the European Commission and European Parliament
- 31. How to getyour email read • Get your email read by: − Calling ahead − Develop a good subject line − Follow up via a phone call
- 32. How to getyour legislative proposal considered • Get your legislative proposal considered: − Send it to the MEP before a meeting − Bring it with you to the meeting in print version − Follow-up
- 33. Send your amendmentsand proposals before the vote! • If you are uncertain when a vote takes place, ask the MEP’s office • Call the committee administrator responsible • Each EP committee sends out detailed planning – subscribe to their news
- 34. Remember the “homeboys”! • EU legislation affect 28+ countries • National parliaments are as important as the European Parliament. If an MEP wants to be re-elected, s/he is re-elected on national level • National specialists are very knowledgeable on their subjects and important to involve in your lobbying • National parliamentarians can also influence the MEP
- 35. Meet with theEuropean Commission • The European Commission drafts all legislation and your points will be heard at an earlier stage in the process • The Commission is often a year ahead of the Parliament • Get active in the different platforms that exist within your area of interest
- 36. Meet with subjectmatter specialists • Every party and committee has subject matter specialists • Often they that draft amendments • Might not affect the voting but the better informed they are the better they can do their job. Ask them to be invited to your meeting with the MEP.
- 37. Transparency, Transparency, Transparency • Yourefforts will be known • Don’t hide your lobbying efforts • Put your statements on the corporate /organisational website
- 38. Resources European Parliament Transparencyregister European Voice EurActiv Eurobrussels EDRi Legislative Observatory – all documents in any dossier http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/home/home.do
- 39. More hints andtips • Probably the best guide to lobbying there is: Activist guide to the Brussels maze from EDRi http://www.edri.org/files/2012EDRiPapers/activist_guide_to_
- 41. What is lobbying? Lobbyingis the act of attempting to influence decisions made by government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies
Editor's Notes
- #3 There are four main parts of the EU. The European council have no direct members, it is the Member States that are the members and they delegate different ministers depending on the subject that will be treated during any meeting
- #5 The Lisbon Treaty is the ground law of EU. Or rather it is the treaty that entered into place when France and the Netherlands had voted out what was supposed to become a ground law.
- #6 This is the overall decision model for the EU and since we are speaking about lobbying it takes place both at the Commission as well as the Parliament. Council is a bit more closed but lobbying often take place via the Member States
- #7 There are four main law making procedures in the EP. These are: consultation, consent, legislative initiative, other procedures Consultation - The European Parliament may approve or reject a legislative proposal, or propose amendments to it. The Council is not legally obliged to take account of Parliament's opinion but in line with the case-law of the Court of Justice, it must not take a decision without having received it Consent - In certain legislative areas, the European Parliament is requested to give its consent, as a special legislative procedure under Article 289(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The consent procedure gives Parliament the right of veto. Parliament's role is thus to approve or reject the legislative proposal without further amendments and the Council cannot overrule Parliament's opinion. Consent is also required as a non-legislative procedure when the Council is adopting certain international agreements. Normally only in relation to new member states Legislative Initative – eg a banking union Other procedures
- #9 After the election in May this will be slightly reduced to 751 Currently the MEPs are elected in national elections but for the election 2014 there will be European parties introduced.
- #11 Shortly put lobbying is the act to attempt to influence decisions made by government officials at all levels in our society. But we are really seeing four interlocked concepts: Issues Management, Public affairs and Crisis management that together make up what we can call a non-market strategy – i.e. lobbying. All this is driven by the organisation's market strategy. There is no fundamental difference between market and non-market strategies. Issues management constitute a long-term opportunity
- #12 The difference between crisis and issues. And one can develop into another, but normally the springing difference is the fact that crisis are immedate and sort of blow up in your face. Issues needs to be dealt with in a very pro-active way and is thus a real business opportunity. But as always Issues can develop into a crisis as the public becomes more informed and involved. This is where public affairs and lobbying comes into the picture.
- #13 Issues derive their consequences and important from two the stakeholders and their capacity to keep the fire burning. There are two main consequences: direct financial and reputational. For corporates this can be measured by lookg at the share price, for organisations it can be measured in how easy it is to activate its members.
- #20 Anti-counter Fitting Trade Agreement: intially only aimed at regulating Intellectual Property Rights it soon became an issue for the medical and Internet community since the negotiators had included generci medecines and file sharing. It was its designation as a trade that made it possible for it to be negotiated behind closed doors. 2006 Still not much attention in either press or activist community 2007 – 2011 At the end of 2007 WIPO General Assembly meets and approves the WIPO Development Agenda and a Joint announcement is made regarding the formal launch of negotiations on ACTA. Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) begin. ACTA aims at standardising international enforcement of intellectual property rights, establishing an international legal framework for countries to join voluntarily. These negotiations take place behind closed doors which was to be one of the biggest points of critisim during the protests. April 2011 ACTA is finalized on April 15 2011 by Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the USA. The Agreement is the subject of heavy criticism since the beginning of its negotiations for its alleged high level of secrecy and dubious lawfulness
- #21 May 2011ACTA becomes open for countries to adopt from 1 May 2011. The official text of ACTA is released to the public for the first time. Opponents of the Agreement warn that ACTA would enable censorship of the Internet, as it would impose sanctions that could see Internet service providers monitor and censor online communications in search of copyrighted material. October 2011 ACTA is signed by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the USA. January 2012ACTA is signed by 22 of the 27 EU countries on 26 January 2012 in Tokio, Japan. The EU countries not to sign ACTA are Germany, Cyprus, Estonia, the Netherlands and Slovakia. Massive protests against ACTA break out throughout Europe, with Anonymous attacking government websites, while several other websites black out their sites in protest. Under the pressure several EU Member States, among them Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Latvia and Bulgaria withdraw their support of ACTA, while Germany refuses to ratify the controversial treaty. Many other countries, such as the US, Japan and Australia, signed the document in September. Helena Drnovek Zorko, Slovenia’s ambassador to Japan later apologised for her signature. February 2012Before it can be enforced in the EU, ACTA must be ratified by all 27 EU Member States and must pass through the EU parliament. To facilitate the debate on ACTA, the European Commission refers the Agreement to the European Court of Justice, so that the Court may examine whether it is incompatible with the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms. July 2012ACTA is rejected by the European Parliament on 4 July 2012 and consequently cannot became law in the EU. 478 MEPs vote against ACTA, 39 in favour, and 165 abstain.
- #23 A few activist groups have full time employees which helped. But then again, activists are used to working in virtual networks and used to passing information and analysis
- #38 Tell people yourself and control the story rather than look like Shady Sam trying to influence under the radar