Your dedicate source for lobbying news and resources

The AALEP Online Lobbying Documents Repository is a promotional and educational tool for practitioners and the general public. It seeks to inform users about developments in the field of public policy advocacy, public affairs, lobbying and interest representation and efforts to coordinate and strengthen system-wide approaches in this field.  It is important to make such information widely accessible about issues and activities, and the various tools, documents and materials on the subject.

AFME is the voice of Europe's wholesale financial markets. AFME represents the leading global and European banks and other significant capital market players. AFME focuses on a wide range of market, business and prudential issues and offer a pan-European perspective, bringing to bear deep policy and technical expertise and constructive influence with European and global policymakers. The Association advocates stable, competitive, sustainable European financial markets that support economic growth and benefit society.

On behalf of its members, AFME

British lobby groups and corporations are among the biggest players in Brussels lobbying. The UK comes third after Germany and France in terms of the number of lobbyists operating at the EU level. The British have been the most adept at pulling strings in Brussels and at engineering regulations for the defence of their interests. UK's companies, trade associations, consultancies, law firms and think tanks are punching well above their weight. In Brussels, the UK is understood to be one of the most business-friendly Member States.

1. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Division for Public Sector Integrity, Paris. The OECD helps policy makers and practitioners review and reform governance measures in particular in areas vulnerable to corruption, such as conflict of interest, lobbying and revolving doors, public procurement.

Back in 2012 in Warsaw a meeting of China with the leaders of 16 post-communist European states resulted in an action plan for adding impetus to the already expanding cooperation with Eastern, Central and Southeast Europe (CESEE).

CESEE covers the following countries: 11 EU Member States  (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) and five countries from the Western Balkans region which are potential candidates or candidates for EU membership (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia).

The information and views set out in this article are those of Transparency International  and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of AALEP

EFTA-3: Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein

Commission

 General

1. Lobbyists are developing new skills. Speakers of German are more prized- close to par with English-speakers and far more valuable than French speakers.
2. Brussels’ best-known lobbyists still hail from the old Member States, while the new Member States are under-represented in the Brussels’ corps.

 Corporate

Based on Swissinfo.ch (Orginal Text has been edited)

Switzerland has one of the most highly-developed systems of democracy in the world. But the influence of lobby groups on political life is hardly regulated

Switzerland and the EU sustain very close relations. With no other third country has the Union concluded more agreements (more than 120). Thus Switzerland and the EU are intertwined in many policy areas. Examples: Internal market (free trade agreement, free movement of persons agreement), internal security (Schengen/Dublin), transport (overland transport and civil aviation agreements), cooperation in tax matters (taxation of savings and fight against fraud agreements). There are nevertheless several economic challenges of being the outsider.