Lobbying in Brussels
Richard Tuffs
Director ERRIN
director@errin.eu
www.errin.eu
Tel 0032 2 230 4441
Contents
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Why lobby
Who to lobby
How to lobby
Working in Brussels
Discussion
Why lobby
 Lobbying is all about influencing
decision making either directly or
indirectly
 Decision making
 Directives, regulations, norms, standards,
recommendations, terminology, etc.
 Directly or indirectly
 Open, upfront or behind the scenes
 Lukes three dimensions of power
Lukes
 Democratic voting
 Electorate, parliament, committees, etc.
 Majority wins
 Agenda setting
 Who sets the agenda, who decides what
is to be voted?
 Ideological
 Setting wider frameworks of thinking
 Sustainability vs technology
 Capitalism vs socialism
 Research vs innovation
Lukes
Voting
Activities
Who
Where
How
Timelines
Measuring
success
Agendasetting
Ideological
EU ‘Lobbying’
 In the European context, lobbying enables
anyone that is working on EU affairs, to get
involved with the EU Institutions, participate in
the debate, contribute to the EU decision
making, by influencing.
 Networking: provide the individuals the
opportunity to enhance this influencing
potential and maximise the impacts, by
bringing together individual resources, skills
and interests.
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Why lobby
 Proactive: to compete for the future,
don’t just adapt to the future, make
your future
 Wayne Gretsky “ don’t skate to where
the puck is, skate to where it is going to
be”
 Reactive: defend your position –
someone else may be lobbying
against you – doing nothing is not an
option
Lobbying, the good, the bad and
the ugly
Getting the right decision
at the right time
Protecting your interests
The ugly…
The ugly… 2
Why lobby in Brussels
 Widening power of EU
 Estimates from 40% to 80% of EU legislation affects
national level
 Single market 500,000 consumers
 27 countries
 EU budget – ‘juste retour’ getting more out than you
put in…
 EU institutions
 Commission
 Parliament
 More powers of co-decision under the Lisbon Treaty
 Council
 Permanent Representations
 Committee of the Regions
 Economic and Social Committee
Funding available
The opportunities: Why Brussels as a Hub ?
The EU budget 200713
EU Policy
development: 80% of
all national legislation
directly or indirectly
influenced by
decisions made at the
European level
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Funds from Europe
Lobbies in Brussels
 800 Press Corps (second after Washington)
 1500 professional associations
 CEFIC – 150 people
 300 companies
 200 regions
 150? EU networks
 Regional networks
 AER, CEMR, CPMR, CEBR, REGLEG, AlpesRegio,
ISLENET, EURADA, ERRIN, Eurocities…
 100 management consultancies/law firms
 APCO, Burson-Marsteller, GPlus, Hill & Knowlton,
Weber Shandwick…
Cohesion Policy
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44% of EU budget
Objective 1 and Objective 2 regions
Objective 2 regions get more funding
Funding implications
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Overall EU budget
Percentage allocated to cohesion
Sub-divide in categories of regions
Spending categories – what spent on
 Shift from cohesion to competitiveness
 Bridges to brains
 Matched funding – how much from regions
Future Cohesion Policy
Research Framework Programme
80+?
60
€ Billion
53,3
50
40
30
20
10
13,12
3,27
5,36
14,96
17,5
6,6
0
1984-1987 1987-1991 1990-1994 1994-1998 1998-2002 2002-2006 2007-2013
2014-2020
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The European Research and Innovation
system
•Alzheimer
•Agriculture, Food
Security & Climate
change
•Health and Diet
•Cultural Heritage

Programmes Wind Energy 6B€
Instruments Solar Energy 16B€
Bioenergy 9 B€
New
Carbon Capture & Storage 13
thematic
Electricity Grid 2 B€
initiatives
Sustainable Nuclear Energy 7
Smart Cities
Ageing (More Years Better Lives)
Climate Knowledge (Clik-EU)
Seas and Oceans
Antimicrobial resistance
Urban Europe
Water challenges

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Eureka!

ERANET+
ERANET
 
JTI
Artemis
Eniac Clean Sky
IMI FCH
ICT-FET (Flag Ships)
Fundamenta
l
ERC
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Art. 169
AAL Bonus
EMRP

PEOPLE
Applied


EUROSTARS
JTI
PPP
SMEs and SME
Associations
INFRASTRUCTURES


Developme
nt


PPP

eHealth
eIdentity
ICT for TT
Energy efficienc
Energy Efficient Buildings
Future of Factories
Green cars
eHealth
Future Internet
Smart grid
TT, mobility & logistics
Content
Large Scale Demos & tria

Innovatio
n
Deployment
Horizon 2020 consultation 2011
 1303 responses via response to
questionnaire
 775 position papers
 http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon
2020/index_en.cfm?pg=home
Consultation on Horizon 2020
Lobbying – does it work?
 “It is virtually impossible for any
single interest or national association
to secure exclusive access to the
relevant officials or politicians, let
alone to exert exclusive influence”
 “ Lobbying is like advertising, 50% of
it works, the problem is which 50%?”
Lobbying how?
The Brussels Maze –
This way to influence!
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Understanding
Information
Intelligence
Briefings
Strategy
Tactics
Networking
Multi-player platforms
Return on investment
Lobbying: some key P’s
Patience
Process
Professional
People
Expertise
Partners
Planning
Power
Position
Policy
Process – the policy cycle
•
•
•
•
MS
LRAs
Get on agenda
Stop
Influence scope
Influence start date
Implementation
Council and
European
Parliament
Decision
Preparation
• Green Paper
Proposal 2?
Consultation
Commission
Proposal 1
CoR, ESC, Think Tanks,
sectoral associations
and networks experts, regions
Commission
The lobbying structure: the EU institutional triangle
European Commission
European
Parliament
European Council
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The European Commission
 Driving Force –draft proposals
for EU Law
 25,000 staff but one third
secretarial/translation
 Executive Body: implements
policies and allocates funds
 Guardian of the Treaties:
ensure that EU legislation is
correctly implemented in MS
 The first port of call to either
lobby an issue on its agenda or
bring a ‘new issue’
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The European Parliament
 Elected by the Citizens:
the Voice of the People
 Joint Decision Making
Body
 Approves with the
Council the annual EU
budget
 Committee Structure
 Members sit in Political
Groups
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The Council of the EU : the interest of MS
 Ministers from each MS
with capacity to commit
their governments
 Joint Decision Making Body
 Political institution of the
Union-the Council decides
 All MS have a Permanent
Representation in Brussels
 Each country retains
Presidency of Council for 6
months
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Know your EU policy
EU 2020
Key strategy
3 priorities
smart,
sustainable
inclusive
5 targets
7 flagships
Europe 2020: 7 flagships
Smart
growth
Sustainable Inclusive
growth
growth
Innovation
Union
Resource
New skills for
efficient Europe new jobs
Mobility – Youth Industrial policy European
on the move
for the
platform
globalisation
against poverty
era
Digital Agenda
European Policy
Innovation key driver of EU policy
Innovatio
n Union
Europe
2020
Horizon
2020
and
Smart
specialisatio
n
Innovation Union
 Ten key points
1. Member States must invest more in education,
R&D, innovation and ICTs
2. Better value for money by tackling
fragmentation and linked national R&D research
and innovation systems
3. Modernise all levels of education
4. Better mobility for researchers and innovators
and completion of the European Research Area
5. Simplify EU funding programmes (FP7/FP8) and
more European Investment Bank Funding and
strengthened European Research Council.
Structural funds should be fully exploited to
develop research and innovation capacities
based on smart specialisation strategies
Innovation Union
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Ten key points (part 2)
6.
Get more innovation out of research with better
cooperation between the worlds of business and science
7. Reduce barriers for entrepreneurs to bring ideas to market
e.g. better access to finance, affordable IPR, smarter
regulation, faster standardisation and strategic use of
procurement
8. European Innovation Partnerships should be launched to
accelerate research, development and market deployment.
First EIP is on healthy ageing (future ones on smart cities,
water-efficient Europe, smart mobility, agricultural
productivity and sustainability)
9. Exploit EU strengths in design and creativity and champion
social and public sector innovation
10. Work better with international partners – opening access
to EU programmes by getting access to outside
programmes too.
Innovation Union: actions
 34 actions backed up by the European
Council. The European Parliament is invited
to give priority to Innovation Union
proposals with an annual major policy
debate. Member States (and their regions)
should ensure appropriate governance
structures and review Structural Funds to
reflect Europe 2020 priorities.
 Annual Innovation Convention to discuss
the state of the Innovation Union
 Innovation Convention took place December
5th/6th 2011 – 1200 participants…
Policy drivers
Smart
Sustainable
Inclusive
Competitiveness
Environment
Skills
Innovation
Eco…5Rs
Education
SMEs
Climate change
Single market
Planning: the importance of early
warning
Effort
political
policy
Time
Draft legislation
Decision of the Commission
Council and EP readings
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Start early
politics
Go strong and
aim high
Use door openers
Negotiation…
If… then…
Go low and go early
Use ideas
policy
Understand timing
 Commission Annual Work Programme
 Published November before the year
 Presidency priorities
 We want a decision on this before…
 Community patent
 Budget negotiations
 Flagship roadmaps
 Actions and dates
 Contacts with Commission staff
Proposal / Consultation
 For big policy ideas, Commission will do a
consultation
 Questionnaire
 Position papers
 Common Strategic Framework
 X responses
 Concrete is still wet at this stage
 Still time to influence
 Develop position
 Involve other relevant stakeholders
Position: do we know what we
know?
What we know
We
know
Answered
questions
We know that we
know
We
don’t
know
Unquestioned
answers
We don’t know that
we know
What we don’t know
Unanswered
questions
We know that we
don’t know
Unquestioned
questions
We don’t know that
we don’t know
Position: what do we want?
Must
Minimum that
we can accept
Example
It could be
worse!
Like
We would not
say no
Example
Put back timing
Narrow scope
Intend
Success!
Example
Stop a proposal
Get direct
wording in text
Power
Low interest
Low
influence
High
influence
Monitoring
Support partners
but low intensity
Follow debate
High interest
Seek partners and
lobbyists
Lead debate and
actions
Position
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Influence ideas
Seminars
Expert round tables
Academic papers
Think tank papers (EPC, Brueghel…)
Position papers
Case study
Position: bring solutions
 Situation
 As you know*…EU/European consumers want(s)
higher welfare standards for chickens
 New battery cages for chickens
 Problem
 Not all MS farmers have complied yet
 Unfair competition
 Solution
 Ban export of eggs from non-compliant farmers
 Evaluation of solution
 Encourages speedy adoption of EU legislation
* Eurobarometer – useful for surveys
WhoPeople:stakeholder
to lobby
Other
Regions
MEPs
“Friends”
Commission
DG
analysis
Other
Representations
Other Networks/
Contacts
The Right Message
CoR
&
In The Right Format
ECOSOC
Other DG
Council
Other DG
Perm Reps
To The Right People
At The Right Time
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?
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Develop alliances
 Look for other networks who support
your position 80:20 rule
 Exchange position papers
 Joint meetings
 Cross-border alliances always
stronger
 Look for the EU added value
 Ask not what the EU can do for you but
what you can do the for the EU
Patience and professionalism
 EU policy is slow
 Big policy changes take 5 years
 The junior officer/intern/MEPs
assistant you started talking to in
2011 may be well placed to decide in
2016 or 2021…
 Being professional is key, your
reputation is your calling card
Professional
 Know the dossier inside out
 Develop a strong narrative
 Good presentation skills in English
and all other languages an advantage
especially French, German and
Spanish
 Look professional
 Business cards on hand
 Dress – more smart than casual
Lobbying: some P’s
Patience
Process
Professional
People
Expertise
Partners
Planning
Power
Position
Policy
Expertise
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Aware of processes
Aware of planning (timetable)
Actively involved in the policy
Aware of the people and how to
contact
 Networking
 Intelligence
 Able to articulate a position
 Clearly, Concisely, Continually…
Bibliography
 “Networking in Brussels , A practical guide to navigating EU
networks”, Pascal Goergen, 2009
 “The new practical guide to the EU labyrinth”,Daniel Gueguen,
edition 2009
“iLobby.eu, Survival Guide to EU Lobbying”, Caroline De Cock, 2010
“ European Lobbying’ Daniel Gueguen, 2008
 “Machiavelli in Brussels, The Art of Lobbying the EU”, Rinus van
Schendelen, 2003 (recently updated)
 “Bursting the Brussels Bubble” www.alter.eu
 “Lobbying in the European Union – current rules and practices”
European Parliament Working Paper AFCO 104EN 04/2003
 “Brussels the EU quarter” Lobby Planet, 2005
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 “Lobbying in Brussels” Friends of the Earth Europe
Richard Tuffs
Director
3 rue du Luxembourg
B-1000 Brussels
Tel +32 2 503 3554
director@errin.eu
The views expressed in this presentation
do not reflect an official ERRIN position
for listening