Public Affairs in the Brussels bubble

 

Jon Worth

 

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Also in this section:

• Why specialist monitoring still matters

Daniel Gunner of DeHavilland

• How do we get politicians to listen?

Jon McLeod of Weber Shandwick

• Blogging and lobbying

Shane Greer

• How to read body language

Glen Harrison

Jon Worth says that the EU's combination of important economic interests and a small administration creates a perfect atmosphere for lobbyists

 

 

The European Union covers a market of 490 mllion consumers, and yet its institutionsare opaque, complex, and hard for those individuals to comprehend. Meanwhile, in the shining towers of Brussels, the main administrative work is done by 24,000 civil servants - fonctionnaires in EU jargon - who work for the European Commission and are miniscule in number compared to the civil servants in a national capital.

 

The combination of important economic interests and a small administration creates a perfect atmosphere for the public affairs industry. It is often said that only Washington DC has more lobbyists than Brussels. At the same time the lack of public scrutiny contributes to the idea that Brussels operates in some sort of bubble: "professional and inward-looking" is the way Erik Wesselius from Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) sums up the public affairs sector. James Stevens of Fleishman-Hillard Brussels describes the sector as "mature, professional and  changing ... from media relations, issue advertising and third party mobilisation to the increasing use of digital
communications."

 

With European Parliament elections in June, and a new team of Commissioners in place by the autumn, 2009 will be a year of many personnel changes in Brussels, according to Tim Price, partner at GPlus Europe. These changes are an opportunity for public affairs companies although he argues that, in Brussels as elsewhere, the economic downturn is going to be the most important driver for public affairs activity in the coming 12 months, not least because of pressure for EU-wide legislation affecting the financial markets. Stevens shares that view, saying that while personnel changes are important, the issues his firm will deal with are not going to change as a result.

 

There are differences in opinion as to whether the EU institutions are too open to the influence of lobbyists and public affairs professionals. Price's view is that being a policy maker "means understanding influence, not pandering to it". Wesselius takes the opposite stance, saying "both the Commission and the Parliament rely too heavily on outside expertise. The institutions should create independent advisory bodies that can provide balanced policy advice." As the member states are effectively in control of the European Union budget, there would seem to be little prospect of that happening.

Even Charlie McCreevy, Internal Market Commissioner, has spoken of "regulatory capture" of the institutions by the selling side of the financial services industry, while a directive on software patents in 2005 was voted down primarily as a reaction to what was perceived to be oppressively strong lobbying on the issue. While there is a latent discontent that some organisations and interests may exert undue influence over the legislative process, there is little in the way of consensus on how matters could be improved.

 

Lobbying transparency has also been a matter for fierce debate in Brussels. The case for transparency has been led within the institutions by Vice President of the European Commission Siim Kallas. On this matter Price is categoric: "Transparency is, and should be, one of the most important aspects of public affairs, not just in Brussels but everywhere".

 

The devil is undoubtedly in the detail as Wesselius is critical of the view, often voiced in Brussels, that because the sector is small no player has an incentive to use underhand tactics. CEO has run the Worst EU Lobbying Awards for the last four years to shine a light into the darker corners of the industry. The increasing professionalism of public affairs, and links between firms in Brussels and national capitals, have undoubtedly helped.

 

While public affairs continues to develop in Brussels, it is hard to draw parallels with London, Paris and Berlin. The complexity of the EU institutional structures, the technical nature of much single market legislation and the rather insular nature of the Brussels political environment make the public affairs environment unique. Stevens also underlines that the fragmented media environment - with national papers covering the big political issues and the Brussels 'trade' press covering the daily policy grind - means that the media get a lot less attention from public affairs professionals.

 

 

Where to look

 

Major Brussels public affairs companies
GPlus Europe www.gpluseurope.com
The Centre www.thecentre.eu 

 

Brussels offices of international public affairs companies
Burson-Marsteller Brussels
www.bmbrussels.eu

 

Fleishman-Hillard Europe
www.eu.fleishmaneurope.com

 

Hill & Knowlton International Belgium

www.hillandknowlton.be

 

Weber Shandwick Brussels
www.webershandwick-eu.com

 

Critical opinions
Corporate Europe Observatory
www.corporateeurope.org

 

Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation

www.alter-eu.org

 

Worst EU Lobbying Awards

www.worstlobby.eu

 

 

Jon Worth blogs about European politics at www.jonworth.eu