POLISH INTEREST REPRESENTATION IN BRUSSELS

Although EU institutions and policies create additional opportunities for national interest groups to influence policy-making, not all domestic groups make use of the extended niche provided by the EU. Perceiving the EU solely in categories of ‘high politics’ and omitting or marginalising its ‘low politics’ dimension is the reason why the possibilities of co-shaping the European integration process through both European and national social organisations, interest groups, regional associations, think tanks, etc., are not sufficiently used in Poland.

A lack of belief in the possible influence and the efficiency of the national organisations at the European level has led to abandoning interest representation within EU institutions. Thus far Polish organisations have cooperated with the European associations in carrying out common lobbying campaigns only on a small scale. The representations of the Polish interest groups in Brussels are also not overwhelmingly interested in professional lobbying at the EU level. If Polish organisations take up lobbying, it is most usually through the so-called ‘national route’, which uses national institutions, mainly government organs.

Despite numerous initiatives, the activity of Polish business lobbyists in Brussels is almost invisible. Despite this apparent lack of visibility, Polish interest activity is not completely inexistent in the EU. Currently the representation of Poland’s interests and the interests of Polish organisations in the EU take different forms. Apart from Polish embassies and government representations in Brussels, Polish interests are also represented by organisations and interest groups that set up direct representations and/or join European horizontal and sector confederations.

Most of representations in Brussels belong to Polish regions and local authorities, not to business stakeholders. Polish regions are mainly interested in the policies and programs that are connected with regional development, agriculture, environment, social cohesion, energy and transport. One of the crucial roles performed by regional offices is to gather and disseminate information. They also try to influence EU policies, gain EU subsidies and take part in European transnational networks.

Polish business organisations definitely have little representation in Brussels. Only one confederation of employers and few individual Polish enterprises have established their permanent representations. In many cases, Polish business associations – members of European federations – seem to be focused on gathering material about specific legislation at the domestic level by default, rather than making a deliberate attempt to shape legislation by accessing EU institutions and networks. For many business organisations, the exchange of information is more important than the actual impact on the EU policy-making. This is probably the reason why many Polish associations are rather passive members of European federations.

Still, it seems that in Poland the necessity of intensifying lobbying activities in the EU in favour of Polish subjects is either unnoticed or there are barriers that are very hard to overcome. Apart from the costs, one of them is quite possibly the lack of awareness about common interests among the national organisations, a dislike of close cooperation and entering into associations, as well as not noticing the ‘European correlation’ – that is, the dependence of the national situation on the situation in the EU.

Polish Regional Offices

1. Eastern Poland Regional Euro-Office, Lubelskie Region
2. Representation of the Łódzkie Voivodship to Brussels
3. Representation of the Łódź City to Brussels
4. Representation of the Małopolskie Voivodship to Brussels
5. The Mazovia Region Representative Office to the EU
6.  Information Office of the Opole Voivodship in Brussels
7. The Office of Pomorskie Region in Brussels
8. Regional Office Śląskie Voivodship in Brussels (Silesia)
9. Regional Office of the Warmia Mazury Voivodship in Brussels
10. Information Office of the Wielkopolska Voivodship in Brussels
11. Lower Silesian Voivodship Regional Office in Brussels
12. Information office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region
13. Regional Office of Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship
14. Podlaskie Voivodship Regional Office in Brussels
15. Information Office of the Lubuskie Region in Brussels
16. Podkarpackie voivodship regional office in Brussels
17. Świętokrzyskie voivodship regional office in Brussels

Direct Polish Offices in Brussels

1. Polish Post Representation Office
2. PKP S.A. Polish State Railways
3. Polish Farmers’ Organizations (member of Copa/Cogeca)
4. National Council of Legal Advisors of Poland
5. Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan (member of BusinessEurope)
6. Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG)
7. Polish Science Contact Agency
8. Gaz System SA (Gas Pipeline Operator)
9. Telekomminkacja Polska (together with French Telecom Group)

Another form of interest representation in the EU is membership and active participation in European and international federations and confederations. Many sectoral and horizontal associations are members of such organisations, i.e.:

• Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG) (member of Eurochambres)
• Polish trade union NSZZ Solidarnosc (member of ETUC)
• Polish Federation of Consumers (member of BEUC)
• Confederation of Polish Employers (cooperates with the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP)
• Polish Council of Chemical Industry (member of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)
• Polish Committee of Electric Energy (cooperates with partners within EURELECTRIC)
• Polish Bank Association (member of the European Banking Federation)
• Polish Organisation of Trade and Distribution (cooperates with Eurocommerce)
• National Confederation of Employers in Construction Industry (member of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC)
• Polish Assurance Committee (member of the European Assurance Committee (CEA).