IDENTIFYING THE KEY POWER HOLDERS IN THE EP POST ELECTIONS

The expected turnover of MEPs, in the upcoming European elections has the potential to impact significantly on the regulatory landscape in the EU in many areas. Membership of the influential parliamentary Committees is likely to undergo many changes. Businesses and other organisations will need committed and influential politicians who can help them make their voice heard in Brussels.

The EP is a complex institution with multiple opportunities for log-rolling and internal veto points for interest groups to lobby: the plenary session, the specialized committees, the committee secretariats, the political groups, the group secretariat, public hearings, and the intergroups. Identifying power in the EP and the pressure points for interest groups requires a sound insight into the formal and informal parliamentary procedures. What appears from the outside to be key pressure points is sometimes quite different on the inside.

Identifying the Key power-holders in the EP Post elections

1. Identifying the political groups post elections
2. Identifying the group secretariats: The group secretariats have three key roles: Offering political advice, information and research to support political decision-making; Assisting in policy development and negotiation, Providing logistical support and technical assistance for Group activities. Each political group has a secretariat responsible for assisting Members with their parliamentary work. Group secretariats include political advisors (sometimes called 'group agents', 'agents de groupes') responsible for the various policy areas covered by the parliamentary committees. Such political advisors follow the work of each committee, providing political briefing to Members on the various dossiers, advising on the political position to adopt, assisting in the preparation of reports and opinions and amendments to these, drawing-up voting lists and so on.
3. Identifying the committees : The main role of a parliamentary committee is to prepare the proceedings of the full Parliament meeting in plenary. It does this by preparing reports for consideration by Parliament; or by preparing opinions addressed to other committees which are themselves preparing reports. Reports may be either legislative or non-legislative, depending on the nature of the underlying document upon which the Parliament has been consulted (if any).
4. Identifying the committee secretariats : Each European Parliament Committee has its own permanent staff or “secretariat” made up of 4 to 10 Administrators and a Head of Unit. These come from the Secretariat of the European Parliament and they are non-political career civil servants. Their principal role is to assist the Committee Chair in organising the Committee's work. They also provide procedural advice to all Members, assistance in liaising with Commission and Council and drafting assistance to Members drawing up reports and opinions. The secretariat also prepares voting lists. A Committee’s secretariat can play a considerable role in shaping the work of that Committee. It is not unusual to see a Rapporteur rely more heavily on the staff of his Committee than on his own assistants, simply because of the experience the Committee staff often has in the areas the Committee specialises in. Their tasks notably cover: Briefing MEPs on past positions of the Committee, Conducting background research on a given Report, Helping in the drafting of Reports. Their assignment to certain tasks depends on the one hand on their expertise but also on their linguistic skills in relation to the languages spoken by a given Rapporteur.
5. Identifying the Rapporteurs : The rapporteur's role includes: presenting a draft report suggesting amendments to the Commission’s proposal, presenting the report in plenary and negotiating with the Council.
6. Identifying the Shadow Rapporteurs: Designated by other political groups the shadow rapporteurs advise on the draft legislation in question. The shadow rapporteurs also establish voting lists for their political group to be used in plenary.
7. Identifying the Group Coordinators (group whips): Each political group appoints a coordinator for individual committees. They are their group's spokesperson on the specific committee. Coordinators are also responsible for negotiating how many points should be given to a report and who they will put forward as rapporteur if their group wins the bid, or shadow rapporteur if their group loses it. The political coordinators together with the shadow rapporteur influence the political group’s position during debates and voting in the committee and plenary sessions. The political group coordinators are Members chosen to represent their groups at preparatory discussions on policy guidelines, on the strategy pursued by the parliamentary committee and on organising the practical side of the committee's work (assigning reports and opinions to the groups, deciding on hearings, preparing studies, making arrangements for committee delegations, etc.).
8. Identifying Ccommittee Members (especially those with expertise in the policy area under consideration)
9. Identifying MEP Assistants: MEPs’ assistants are as important to lobby as MEPs (if not more important). The assistants serve as the MEPs’ gate-keepers, and any meetings set up with MEPs usually go through the assistants. Knowing an MEP’s assistant personally helps in terms of gaining access. The importance of assistants is highlighted by the fact that it is often the assistants who hold meetings with interest groups on behalf of their MEP. Assistants and MEPs rely on assistance from the committee secretariat and their group advisors.
10. Identify the Intergroups :  MEPs, assistants, and policy advisors frequently interact with interest groups in Parliament’s so-called intergroups.  Intergroups are informal cross-party groups consisting of MEPs from different political groups with an interest in a particular political theme. In the EU, intergroups are often established by interest groups - mainly by European Associations - who run the secretariat, provide the members with expertise and fund MEPs’ activities. Intergroups are a valuable and timesaving lobbying option for interest groups because it is possible for them to target a whole group with their arguments at once, rather than approaching MEPs one at a time.