Where, When, and How Does Lobbying Take Place in the European Parliament?
In this chapter, I examine the different lobbying venues in the European Parliament (EP) and discuss the nature of lobbying inside the institution. The chapter addresses three main questions: What characterises lobbying in the EP compared to elsewhere? Ho
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Where, When, and How Does Lobbying Take Place in the European Parliament?
Whatever interest a stakeholder represents, from labour unions to businesses, the process of lobbying is similar. Any lobbying and advocacy campaign is carried out under many internal and external constraints. Yet, knowing the ins and outs of the European Parliament (EP) is a prerequisite for anyone trying to shape its decisions. Looking from the outside, it is not always clear where to start, as the EP is a heteroclite institution with multiple veto points and opportunities for logrolling. The EP is also an institution where the twist and turns of a European Commission proposal can go terribly wrong if interest groups are not playing their cards smartly. It is an institution where European party politics play a great role, which every now and then catches the glare of the media. Lobbying requires technical expertise, political astuteness, detailed knowledge of the pressure points of the institution lobbied, and trustworthy contacts to key decision-makers. This is also true for lobbying in the EP. Therefore, this chapter addresses three key questions: 1. What characterises lobbying in the EP? 2. How do interest groups look after their long-term interests? 3. How does one go about lobbying on specific dossiers (short-term lobbying)? In answering these three questions, the chapter brings to fore the specificities of lobbying in the EP. Drawing on what we already know about © The Author(s) 2017 M.K. Dionigi, Lobbying in the European Parliament, Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-42688-4_2
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the EP’s legislative behaviour and organisation, this chapter shows that lobbying is focused on a handful of, particularly influential, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
WHAT CHARACTERISES LOBBYING IN THE EP? MEPs have an extremely busy agenda and spend most of their time living out of a suitcase, travelling to Strasbourg for plenary meetings, Brussels, and their national constituency. Much of the EP’s work involves highly technical issues, where expert knowledge is required. While the Commission often spends three to four years preparing a proposal with advice from a large number of expert groups, a rapporteur in the EP has only a few months to prepare a report. In the words of a BusinessEurope representative, “the Parliament’s lack of in-house expertise leaves a huge space for interest group influence”.1 MEPs are not necessarily experts in the legislation under scrutiny. This makes it important for interest representatives to keep their words simple and avoid wrapping their lobbying messages in overly technical terms. Interest groups might present EU decision-makers with the same lobbying message, but the packaging it is delivered in differs across the EU institutions. In the words of one industry representative: The pitch with the Commission is very different than that for the European Parliament. For the Parliament, we need to convey rather technical issues succinctly and clearly to generali
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