2. European Union
European Commission
Executive body, 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
4. Lisbon Treaty
Entered into force 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
legislative process
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
766 Members 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
− Foreign Affairs
− 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
11. Crisis Issues
Immediate
Short lived
Human mistakes
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 to issue
p
R
E
A
S
S
U
R
E
EMERGENCE RESOLUTION PERMANCENCE
13. Lobbying –Core questions
Who is 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
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 Dow Jones
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
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 legislative proposals
Petitions – national and EU wide
Newsletters
Events
Twitter
Facebook
Internet activist groups in Member States
24. How do you become 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 your campaign 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 are used 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 basics right
• 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 touch even 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 you say 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 and check the calendar
• Avoid getting caught unaware by subscribing
to regular updates from the European
Commission and European Parliament
31. How to get your email read
• Get your email read by:
− Calling ahead
− Develop a good subject line
− Follow up via a phone call
32. How to get your 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 amendments and 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 “home boys”!
• 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 the European 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 subject matter 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.
38. Resources
European Parliament Transparency register
European Voice
EurActiv
Eurobrussels
EDRi
Legislative Observatory – all documents in any
dossier
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/home/home.do
39. More hints and tips
• 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_
40.
41. What is lobbying?
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence
decisions made by government officials, most often
legislators or members of regulatory agencies
Editor's Notes
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Tell people yourself and control the story rather than look like Shady Sam trying to influence under the radar
