In politics, lobbying or advocacy, is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies, but also judges of the judiciary. Lobbying, which usually involves direct, face-to-face contact in cooperation with support staff that may not meet directly face-to-face, is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals on a personal level in their capacity as voters, constituents, or private citizens; it is also practiced by corporations in the private sector serving their own business interests; by non-profits and non-governmental organizations in the voluntary sector through advocacy groups to fulfil their mission such as requesting humanitarian aid or grantmaking; and by fellow legislators or government officials influencing each other through legislative affairs in the public sector. Lobbying or certain practices that share commonalities with lobbying are sometimes referred to as government relations, or government affairs and sometimes legislative relations, or legislative affairs. It is also an industry known by many of the aforementioned names, and has a near complete overlap with the public affairs industry. Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, for example amateur lobbyists such as a voter or a bloc of voters within their electoral district acting as private citizens; others like professional lobbyists may engage in lobbying as a business or profession; while others are government relations support staff who work on behalf of professional lobbyists but do not actively participate in influencing or meeting face-to-face with targeted personnel enough to be considered registered lobbyists while working in the same professional circles as professional lobbyists who are legally designated as registered lobbyists.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of representatives from employers' associations, workers' unions and civil society organisations. Its seat, which it shares with the Committee of the Regions, is the Jacques Delors building on Belliardstraat / Rue Belliard 99 in Brussels.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is the major trade union organisation representing workers at the European level. In its role as a European social partner, the ETUC works both in a consulting role with the European Commission and negotiates agreements and work programmes with European employers. It coordinates the national and sectoral policies of its affiliates on social and economic matters, particularly in the framework of the EU institutional processes, including European economic governance and the EU Semester.
A grant is a fund given by a person or organization, often a public body, charitable foundation, a specialised grant-making institution, or in some cases a business with a corporate social responsibility mission, to an individual or another entity, usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local government body, for a specific purpose linked to public benefit. Unlike loans, grants are not intended to be paid back. Examples include student grants, research grants, the Sovereign Grant paid by the UK Treasury to the monarch, and some European Regional Development Fund payments in the European Union.
European Democrat Students (EDS) is a pan-European centre-right student and youth political association, and the official student organisation of the European People's Party. Founded in Vienna by Scandinavian, German and Austrian students in 1961, it represents over 1,600,000 students and young people in 40 member organisations from 35 countries in Europe, and is the largest youth organisation in Europe. Its stated goal is to promote a free, democratic and united Europe through a greater student mobility and comprehensive education policies across the continent.
EUROCADRES is the Council of European Professional and Managerial Staff. It is an organisation associated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). EUROCADRES is recognised by the European Commission as a European social partner.
The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises or SMEunited is an umbrella group for associations of SMEs based in Brussels, Belgium. SMEunited represents the interests of European crafts, trades and SMEs at EU level. Its 67 member organisations from 34 European countries consist of national cross-sectorial SME federations, European branch federations and other associate members. Its members combined represent more than 12 million enterprises, which employ around 50 million people across Europe. SMEunited is a recognised European Social Partner.
The European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions is a regional trade union federation representing around 5 million members of independent trade unions in Europe.
The European Confederation of Police (EuroCOP) is the umbrella organization umbrella organisation for 30 police unions and staff organisations in Europe. Representing the interests of over 250,000 police officers in 25 European countries, it was founded in 2002 at a conference in Roskilde, Denmark, emerging from the Union Internationale des Syndicats de Police (UISP), which had existed since 1953. It was created in order to enable further organizations, particularly ones from the United Kingdom, to join. The union's headquarters is in Luxembourg.
The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a non-profit research and campaign group whose declared aim is to "expose any effects of corporate lobbying on EU policy making". It is based in Brussels.
Alber & Geiger is a political lobbying agency and a European-based government relations law firm, lobbying EU institutions in Brussels. The firm has also a litigation practice at the European Court of Justice and has offices in Brussels, Berlin, Beijing and Washington D.C.
Ibec is an Irish business representative lobbying organisation. and human resources services provider
Relations between the European Union and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) were established in 1975 as part of the Euro-Arab Dialogue. The EU is a member of the Quartet and is the single largest donor of foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority.
The Brussels Business is a documentary film by Friedrich Moser and Matthieu Lietaert about the lack of transparency and the influence of lobbyists on the decision-making process in Brussels, the European Union capital. It also underlines the instrumental role of the European Roundtable of Industrialists in the making of the European Single Market as well as the construction of the European Services Forum, a core actor in the structuration of the service industry lobbying in Brussels. The film has been very popular in Brussels and Austria and is going to be Screened in other European Union theaters.
The European Consumer Organisation, from the French name Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs, "European Bureau of Consumers' Unions") is an umbrella consumers' group, founded in 1962. Based in Brussels, Belgium, it brings together 45 European consumer organisations from 32 countries.
The banking lobby refers to the representatives from various firms and organizations seeking favorable terms from governments for big banks and other financial service companies through lobbying and advocacy groups.
A Lobby Registry, also named Lobbyist Registry, Register for Lobby Transparency or Registry of Lobbyists is a public database, in which information about lobbying actors and key data about their actions can be accessed.
Lobbying in the European Union, also referred to officially as European interest representation, is the activity of representatives of diverse interest groups or lobbies who attempt to influence the executive and legislative authorities of the European Union through public relations or public affairs work. The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new dimension of lobbying at the European level that is different from most national lobbying. At the national level, lobbying is more a matter of personal and informal relations between the officials of national authorities, but lobbying at the European Union level is increasingly a part of the political decision-making process and thus part of the legislative process. 'European interest representation' is part of a new participatory democracy within the European Union. The first step towards specialised regulation of lobbying in the European Union was a Written Question tabled by Alman Metten, in 1989. In 1991, Marc Galle, Chairman of the Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities, was appointed to submit proposals for a Code of conduct and a register of lobbyists. Today lobbying in the European Union is an integral and important part of decision-making in the EU. From year to year lobbying regulation in the EU is constantly improving and the number of lobbyists is increasing.
EuropeanIssuers is an association representing the interests of publicly quoted companies on European stock exchanges. Since 2008, its objective has been to ensure that European Union policy creates an environment in which companies can raise capital through the public markets and deliver growth over the longer term.
The Federation of German Industries is the umbrella organization of German industry and industry-related service providers. It represents 39 industry associations and more than 100,000 companies that employ around 8 million workers. Membership is voluntary. A total of 15 Bundesland-level agencies represent the interests of the economy at regional level. The headquarters of the BDI is the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft in Berlin. Its president is Siegfried Russwurm. BDI has offices in Germany and abroad.
