Short introductory lecture about lobbying in the European Union. November 15, 2012, Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University.

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

8. Lobby routes
 Institutionalized (e.g. ESC, COR) vs. non-institutionalized
 National, European, international

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’

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