Entering 2015, Europe faces a number of new challenges from both within and abroad. Popular discontent with austerity is growing and fueling rejectionist political movements, and with a number of elections on the calendar including in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the U.K.there will be ample opportunity for voters to express their displeasure.

Contrary to popular belief, lobbyists have a useful function. Lobbyists with ties to specific industries gather input from their members and communicate the pulse of the industry. Lobbyists also augment a legislator’s research staff by providing information on industry statistics, product data and research projects. Lobbyists are professionals whose role is to educate elected leaders on issues that affect their industries. Lobbyists should be respected for their knowledge and not characterized as criminals.

Their purpose is to expose and challenge the so-called privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making. They particularly attack lobbying or lobbyists if they come from industry . They do not attack NGO lobbying campaigns, or NGO activists that take positions in governments.  They lobby against corporate lobbyists at the height of EU policy debates.

Every year the World Economic Forum taps into the knowledge, observations and experiences of its Global Agenda Council Members, asking them to identify the issues that they believe will have the biggest impact on the world over the coming 12 to 18 months. The resulting insights, gathered with the help of the Survey on the Global Agenda, ultimately generate the Top 10 Trends - a forecast of the social, economic and political flash points that reside on our collective horizon.

According to Jacques Attali (Jacques Attali is a French economist, writer and senior civil servant. Former adviser to President François Mitterrand and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank), the coming year is shaping up to be a bad year. There is no evidence that the global economic slowdown will not continue under the blows of deflation, competition and innovations.

Therefore, Attali writes

I. FOSTERING INVESTMENT IN EUROPE

 1. Fostering investment and addressing market failure in Europe is a key policy challenge. The new focus on investment, coupled with Member States' commitment to intensifying structural reforms and to pursuing growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, will provide the foundation for growth and jobs in Europe. The European Council:

In 2015,  the Commission has selected the initiatives where there is the most pressing need for action.

The headline plans for 2015 include:   

Greece is on the eve of a critical fortnight, during which its parliament has to elect a President   If Parliament fails to elect a President between now and 29 December, there will be a general election called. With Syriza,( the Coalition of the Radical left) , ahead four per cent in the polls, it is likely that it will form the biggest party. Syriza will end austerity and will demand that the European central bank (ECB) cancels half of Greek debt and buys all future debt at zero interest for 60 years.

Plunging oil prices and economic sanctions have pushed Russia's economy to the brink of collapse. The Russian Central Bank has raised its key interest rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent, the biggest hike since Russia's ruble crisis in 1998.

Executives can achieve self-understanding without drowning in unwieldy complexity by concentrating on the Big Four of their 'Inner Team'

1. Inspirational Dreamer (Chief Executive Officer: Power Source is Intuition

• What I want
• What I don't want

  Sweet Spot:

• Generate your vision
• Dare to pursue your dream
• Sense a path forward

2. Analytical Thinker (Chief Financial Officer): Power Source is Reason

• My opinion
• My ideas

Sweet Sport