WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN IN BRUSSELS?

Each city, each country, each institution has its own culture — and what makes Brussels’ culture particularly distinct is how much it is driven by bureaucracy and mind-boggling procedures on the one hand, and informal policymaking and shifting alliances on the other.

According to Milos Labovic (a long-time lobbyist for the Dutch coastal region of Zeeland) author of “EU Superlobby: Winning in Brussels” Success means text and the real measure of achievement for a lobbyist is to find their position reflected in legislation. A lobbyist needs intricate procedural knowledge and a deep network he/she can rely on at the right time. In Brussels, a city of high turnover, it may be hard to find such a person who can navigate the “champions league of complex governance models”. .