Public policy advocacy is generally defined as the attempted or successful influencing of legislative-administrative decisions made by public authorities through the use of interested representatives. A public policy advocate , or interest representative, is an individual or organization that seeks to influence policy.

Chancelor Angela Merkel has achieved a remarkable 41.5% of the vote (see breakdown below). The next weeks in Berlin are going to turn into a period of gamesmanship as Mrs. Merkel tries to form a stable governing coalition. Her only options are the Greens and the Social Democrats. Germans would be happy with a so-called 'grand coalition' with the Social Democrats because it would unite the country's two largest political parties. Such a government would also have a majority in the upper house of parliament- the Bundesrat offering support for Mrs.Merkel throughout the legislature.

It cannot be said too many times that having an effective organization is crucial to successful public policy advocacy. Surprisingly many organizations in the EU Member States don’t have sufficient knowledge on how to increase the level of their public policy advocacy engagement.

What follows are solutions for increasing the level of public policy advocacy engagement and the benefits that can accrue in doing so.

Solutions

The Euro crisis has failed to explode in the last three years, in spite of repeated predictions that it would. Many commentators (and politicians) now rejoice that the problem is solved. While a few of the countries have made steps toward recovery, there are still several that haven't, and, by and large, those that haven't are larger than those that have.

As always with European crises, the summer was a quiet period as everyone did put aside these dire economic issues and went on holiday. But there will be more fireworks after German elections, when tough decisions will be made.