CHANGING THE IMAGE OF LOBBYING

The media often deals with the question of whether lobbying is acceptable or whether the lobby influence is too big and needs to be tackled by politicians. Many articles on the subject of lobbying in Brussels express the perception that it is the lobbyists who hold the real reins of power in Brussels, and that they exert undue influence over the institutions (dangerous liaisons between the EU institutions and industry). This perception of lobbying in Brussels as somehow controlling the European policy agenda is a perception that sadly is extremely widespread. Too often lobbyists are depicted as deliberately operating in the shadow behind closed doors through quite negotiation with politicians.

The general view of lobbying as being the sole domain of 'big business', of giant multinational corporations with unlimited quantities of money to spend on making sure that misguided policymakers do the right thing and favour their interests over all others has been widely fuelled by films and TV, articles in newspapers and anti-business groups. But as with so many things, the reality is somewhat less dramatic than the perception. In fact, lobbyists come in all shapes and sizes and represent a very broad spectrum of interest groups. Yes, big business is here – but so are environmental NGOs, youth organisations, religious groups, civil liberty campaigners, local and regional governments, industry associations, think tanks, law firms and many more besides. And sometimes the smaller entities are even financially supported by the EU.

Most of them are dedicated and hard-working individuals who care about their area of expertise, want to ensure the best future for it and some of them are well paid, others less. Lobbying as a legitimate exercise is a chance for citizens, organisations and interest groups to get involved in the European political process because they are genuinely concerned about the impact that future EU policies may have. By definition, all lobbyists have an axe to grind, an interest to defend – but most do so honestly and fairly, often passionately, and within the structures of the policy-making process. Commissioners, MEPs and the Ministers in the Council have a duty to listen to what citizens, businesses, NGOs, associations etc. think, want or fear when it comes to policy making at EU level. They must all be open to listening, to hearing different views and to gathering information. Listening is indeed part of the political process.

Lobbying is a fully legitimate exercise, and is indeed part of the political game – not only in the EU, but everywhere. What really makes lobbying most effective is being transparent, accurate, having nothing to hide, and following ethical guidelines. Businesses, NGOs or any other organisation who do that – either directly or by hiring others – have a far greater chance of getting their voice heard and can indeed make a positive contribution to a better and more informed debate.

Disparaging Media Perceptions of Lobbyists

1. Control the ground: Lobbyists succeed by owning the terms of debate, steering conversations away from those they can't win and on to those they can. If a public discussion on a company's environmental impact is unwelcome, lobbyists will push instead to have a debate with politicians and the media on the hypothetical economic benefits of their ambitions. Once this narrowly framed conversation becomes dominant, dissenting voices will appear marginal and irrelevant.
2. Spin the media: The trick is in knowing when to use the press and when to avoid it. The more noise there is, the less control lobbyists have. As a way of talking to government, though, the media is crucial. Messages are carefully crafted. Even if the corporate goal is pure, self-interested profit-making, it will be dressed up to appear synonymous with the wider, national interest. At the moment that means economic growth and jobs.
3. Engineer a following: It doesn't help if a corporation is the only one making the case to government. That looks like special pleading. What is needed is a critical mass of voices singing to its tune. This can be engineered. The forte of lobbying firms is in mobilising voices behind their clients.
4. Buy in credibility: Corporations are one of the least credible sources of information for the public. What they need, therefore, are authentic, seemingly independent people to carry their message for them.
5. Sponsor a think tank: The think tank route is a very good one to undercover reporters seeking lobbying advice. Some think tanks will provide companies with a lobbying package: a media-friendly report, an event at parliament, ear-time with politicians. The exact same services that a lobbying agency would provide but they're just more expensive.
6. Consulting Critics: For some in the business, community consultation anything from running focus groups, exhibitions, planning exercises and public meetings is a means of flushing out opposition and providing a managed channel through which would-be opponents can voice concerns.
7. Neutralise the Opposition: Lobbyists see their battles with opposition activists as 'guerilla warfare'. They want government to listen to their message, but ignore counter arguments coming from campaigners, such as environmentalists, who have long been the bane of commercial lobbyists. So they need to deal with the 'antis'. Lobbyists have developed a sliding scale of tactics to neutralise such a threat. Monitoring of opposition groups is common: Rebuttal campaigns are frequently employed. They are exhausting but crucial. Lobbyists have also long employed divide-and-rule tactics i.e. to differentiate interest groups into friends and foes, building relationships with the former, while making it more difficult for hardcore campaigners to sustain their campaigns.
8. Controlling the Web: Today's world is a digital democracy. One key way to control information online is to flood the web with positive information, which is not as benign as it sounds. Lobbying agencies create phony blogs for clients and press releases that no journalist will read all positive content that fools search engines into pushing the dummy content above the negative, driving the output of critics down Google rankings. Relying on the fact that few people regularly click beyond the first page of results, lobbyists make negative content 'disappear'.
9. Open the door: Without doubt, lobbyists need access to politicians. This doesn't alawys equate to influence, but deals can be cooked up once in the kitchen. And access to politicians can be bought. It is not a cash deal, rather an investment is made in the relationship. Lobbyists build trust, offer help and accept favour. The best way to short-cut the process of relationship-building is to hire politicians' friends, in the form of ex-employees or colleagues.
10. And Finally: There is the perception, at least, that decisions taken in government could be influenced by the reward of future employment. It's a concern that has been expressed for the best part of a century. Today, however, the number of people moving through the revolving door is off the scale.