OVERVIEW OF THE EUROPEAN INTEREST REPRESENTATION LANDSCAPE

This overview is more a ‘guesstimate’meaning that it was made without using adequate or complete information. It is based on registered entities at EU level in the Transparency Register as well as information collected through Internet and experience of the Brussels scene. Nevertheless it provides some elements to measure the size of the European interest representation sector.

1. Transparency Register :

The Transparency Register (Joint Register of the European Commission and the European Parliament) shows about 5,600 registered entities.  The breakdown  among the different categories is the following:

• Law fims : 42
• Professional Consultancies: 411 (Out of this number, there are about 200 Public Affairs Consultancies and the European Public Affairs Consultancies Association (EPACA) counts 42 members )
• Self-Employed Consultants: 167
• Companies and Groups : 774 (Many employ in-house lobbyists)
• Trade Unions : 123
• Trade, business and professional associations : 1710
• Professional Interest Representation/Public Policy Advocacy/Lobbyists Association: 2 ((SEAP 300 membres (out which 53 members come from Unilever)  and AALEP 100 membres)
• Non-Government Organisations, platforms and networks :1304
• Academic Institutions : 128
• Think Tanks and Research Institutions: 283
• Organisations representing local, municipal and regional authorities (at sub-national level) and other public or mixed entities : 306 (Almost all have a Brussels presence)

Among all registered entities in the Transparency Register Germany comes first Germany (963) followed by the United Kingdom (745), France (745), Belgian (436), Netherlands (400), Italy (350) and Spain (200). Combined these core countries represent 3,900 of the registered entities or 70% of the total.

Rather than talking about a Brussels-based total population of 15.000 Lobbyists/Public Policy Advocates/European Affairs Professionals, it may be more appropriate to talk about 15.000 persons/staff working in the field of interest representation as not all are ‘Lobbyists’ or ‘Public Policy Advocates’ in a professional sense. Actually the total employment in the field of interest representation is probably more in the range of 15.000 to 20.000 persons taking into account activities carried out by non-residents, part-time lobbyists/public policy advocates.

2. European Parliament 

Under the Lisbon Treaty the European Parliament in 2014 will count 751 MEPs. 64% will be German (96), French (74), British (73), Italian (73), Spanish (54), Polish (54) Romanian (32) and Netherlands (26).

There are a total of about 1.500 Assistants who help MEPs. Assistants are usually young (often freshly graduated from University) and most of them stay only for a short period. Only a small number of the Assistants stay in Parliament for several years, either for the same MEP or switching from one MEP to another

In terms of interest representation, careful attention should be given to so-called MEP-Industry Forums because they are supported by organisations from industry, service and trade There are many such forums (in alphabetical order):

• European Energy Forum (EEF): 84 Associate Members
• European Forum for Manufacturing:
• European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUROFORES): 27 Business Supporting Members
• European Internet Foundation (EIF): 47 Business Members and 54 Associate Members
• European Life Sciences Circle
• European Parliament Ceramics Forum
• European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF): 50 Finance Industry Members
• Forum for the Automobile and Society: 27 Corporate Members)
• Forum in the European Parliament for Construction
• GLOBE-EU (Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment)
• Kangaroo Group: 55 Members from industry, services and trade
• Knowlege4Innovation Forum: 27 Associate Members
• Land Use and Food Policy Intergroup (representatives of the agri business community)
• Rail for Europe Forum: 42 Associate Members
• Transatlantic Policy Network: 30 Business Members

Although some organisations might join several such Forums, our estimate is that MEP-Industry Forums attract the support of  about 400 single corporations, European associations et al. They are the most active entities at the EU level since they seek a regular interface with MEPs and are willing to pay substantial fees to participate in such forums.

3. European Commission (DGs) and all EU Agencies

4. The Council

5. Permanent Representations (28) Ambassador (Chief of Mission) and Deputy Ambassador (Deputy Chief of Mission)