The Modern Experience of Lobbying Interests in Europe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25115/eea.v39i8.6203Keywords:
Lobbyists, Lobbying, Lobbying of Interest, Lobbying Activity, Lobbyists Registers, Transparency Register, EU Institutions, EU Countries, European Union, Integrity Mechanisms, Technology CompaniesAbstract
The current experience of lobbying interests in Europe requires a detailed study of legislation to provide open public access to the Transparency Register and to promote the use of lobbying transparency mechanisms in European countries and EU institutions. These mechanisms ensure the implementation of relevant regulations and political decisions by political actors with the assistance of interest groups for the effective implementation of public policy. The purpose of the study is to establish the patterns of implementation of interest lobbying policy in Europe and assessing the reliability of lobbying activities in European countries and EU institutions to check the effectiveness of lobbying interests’ modern experience in Europe and mechanisms in ensuring transparency and its integrity in the EU. Research methods: comparative analysis; regression analysis; systematization, generalization. Results. Availability has established the relationship between disclosure by lobbyists and oversight of compliance with the rules of the register and transparency in lobbying. Lobby transparency has been identified as too weak across Europe, as the implementation of the Transparency Register, which aims to regulate lobbying, has not protected against its excessive influence. The largest expenditure on EU lobbying for the period 2017-2018 falls on countries such as Belgium, Germany, and Italy. The current expenditure of EU member states is 91%, more than €2 billion. It was found that lobbying in Europe helps to solve current problems by further improving the legislation that will ensure the implementation of effective EU policy, where the main topics on the agenda are the implementation of the Law on Digital Services and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been established that lobbying in Europe should address barriers to access to public sector information and public data faced by citizens, and require the implementation of measures to regulate the further activities of officials between the public sector and lobbying.
Downloads
References
Althaus, M. (Ed.). (2003). Kampagne! 2: Neue Strategien für Wahlkampf, PR und Lobbying (Vol. 2). LIT Verlag Münster.
Baumgartner, F. R., & Leech, B. L. (2001). Interest niches and policy bandwagons: Patterns of interest group involvement in national politics. The Journal of Politics, 63(4), 1191-1213.
Berkhout, J., Carroll, B. J., Braun, C., Chalmers, A. W., Destrooper, T., Lowery, D., ... & Rasmussen, A. (2015). Interest organizations across economic sectors: explaining interest group density in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 22(4), 462-480.
Beyers, J. (2002). Gaining and seeking access: The European adaptation of domestic interest associations. European Journal of Political Research, 41(5), 585-612.
Beyers, J., Eising, R., & Maloney, W. (2008). Researching interest group politics in Europe and elsewhere: much we study, little we know?. West European Politics, 31(6), 1103-1128.
Brundtland, G. (1987). Our Common Future: Report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, Vol. 1. United Nations, Oslo, 59.
Busch-Janser, S., Vondenhoff, C. (2008): Praxishandbuch Lobbying. Berlin: Polisphere.
Carroll, B. J., & Rasmussen, A. (2017). Cultural capital and the density of organised interests lobbying the European Parliament. West european politics, 40(5), 1132-1152.
Chambers, A. (2016). The Lobbying of the EU. London: Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society.
Chari, R., Hogan, J., Murphy, G., & Crepaz, M. (2020). Regulating lobbying: a global comparison. Manchester University Press.
de Fouloy, C. (2001). The professional lobbyist's desk reference. Gateway Publishing International.
Dür, A. (2008). Interest groups in the European Union: How powerful are they?. West European Politics, 31(6), 1212-1230.
Dür, A., & Mateo, G. (2012). Who lobbies the European Union? National interest groups in a multilevel polity. Journal of European public policy, 19(7), 969-987.
EUR-Lex, Access to European Union law (2014), Agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission on the transparency register for organizations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation, Official Journal of the European Union? 19 September, L 277/11, 2014-r, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.277.01.0011.01.ENG.
European Commission, (2009): Communication from the Commission to the Parliament and the Council. European Transparency Initiative: the Register of Interest Representatives, one year after, COM(2009) 612. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/docs/communication_2009_en.pdf.
Greenwood, J. (2002). Inside the EU business associations. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Greenwood, J. (2017). Interest representation in the European Union. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Hix, S., & Høyland, B. (2013). Empowerment of the European parliament. Annual review of political science, 16, 171-189.
Jordan, G., & Halpin, D. (2012). Politics is not Basketball: Numbers are not Results. In The Scale of Interest Organization in Democratic Politics (pp. 245-262). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Kleinfeld, R., Willems, U., & Zimmer, A. (2007). Lobbyismus und Verbändeforschung: Eine Einleitung. In Lobbying (pp. 7-35). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Klüver, H. (2011). The contextual nature of lobbying: Explaining lobbying success in the European Union. European Union Politics, 12(4), 483-506.
Klüver, H. (2012). Biasing politics? Interest group participation in EU policy-making. West European Politics, 35(5), 1114-1133.
Korkea-aho, E. (2021). Legal Lobbying: The Evolving (But Hidden) Role of Lawyers and Law Firms in the EU Public Affairs Market. German Law Journal, 22(1), 65-84.
Leech, B. L., Baumgartner, F. R., La Pira, T., & Semanko, N. A. (2005). Drawing lobbyists to Washington: Government activity and interest-group mobilization. Political Research Quarterly, 58(1), 19-30.
Leif, T., & Speth, R. (2006). Die fünfte Gewalt. Lobbyismus in Deutschland, Wiesbaden.
Leif, T., & Speth, R. (Eds.). (2006). Die fünfte Gewalt: Lobbyismus in Deutschland (Vol. 514). Springer-Verlag.
Lohmann, S. (1998). An information rationale for the power of special interests. American Political Science Review, 92(4), 809-827.
Marsteller, B. (2013). A guide to effective lobbying in Europe. The view of policy makers.
Michalowitz, I. (2004). EU Lobbying-Principals, Agents and Targets: Strategic interest intermediation in EU policy-making (Vol. 4). Lit Verlag.
Năstase, A., & Muurmans, C. (2020). Regulating lobbying activities in the European Union: A voluntary club perspective. Regulation & Governance, 14(2), 238-255.
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), (2014), Lobbyists, Governments and Public Trust, Volume 3: Implementing the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying. OECD Publishing, Paris.
Redelfs, M. (2006). Mehr Transparenz gegen die Macht der Lobbyisten. Die fünfte Gewalt. Lobbyismus in Deutschland, Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 333-350.
RŮŽIČKOVÁ, P. B. K. LOBBYING EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS.
Scheske, S. (2011). EU Lobbying–Between Pluralism and Criminality? (Bachelor's thesis, University of Twente).
Stevens, F., & De Bruycker, I. (2020). Influence, affluence and media salience: Economic resources and lobbying influence in the European Union. European Union Politics, 21(4), 728-750.
The Joint Transparency Register Secretariat (2019), Annual Report on the operations of the Transparency Register 2019, available at https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/transparency-and-ethics/lobby-groups/en-annual-report-on-the-operations-of-the-transparency-register-2019.pdf.
Transparency International EU, (2021), Deep Pockets, Open Doors. Big tech lobbying in Brussels, available at https://transparency.eu/wp content/uploads/2021/02/Deep_pockets_open_doors_report.pdf.
Transparency International, (2016), Lobbying in Europe, Hidden Influence, Privileged Access, available at http://transparency.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Lobbying_web.pdf.
Transparency Register (2021), Transparency and the EU, available at https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/homePage.do.
