China commands a comprehensive and flexible toolkit. The CCP apparatus is geared towards building lasting leverage. Often, the Chinese side focuses on building relationships with political elites, scholars, or business leaders that “someday, some way, might become valuable” with a view to exercising pressure or courting favors. The Chinese leadership often waits to see whether the unfolding professional or private interests of its contacts might naturally align with Beijing’s.

Based on a speech ‘Between diplomacy and lobbying: the case of Russia-EU relations’ by  Pavel Kanevskiy Associate Professor of Political Science Lomonosov Moscow State University. Original text has been edited. 

Russian interest groups have been constantly learning how European policymaking works, using lobbying as an instrument of direct and indirect influence. Fusion of business and government often makes it difficult for Russian interest groups, foremost business, to exercise influence abroad independently.

At first glance, the proportion of lobbyists from outside of the European Union does not seem all that great: they make up just 9 percent of the entities in the Transparency Register and account for 11 percent of the overall spending.

The largest share of the non-EU money spent to influence Brussels comes from

Author: Taisiya Bekbulatova

Technically speaking, lobbying doesn’t exist in Russia. The concept, at least, isn’t established anywhere in the country’s laws, and the activity itself isn’t formally regulated in any way. There are, nevertheless, many people in Russia who earn a living by mediating between the country’s state and businesses, defending the interests of entrepreneurs and campaigning for the legislation they consider necessary. Some of these people use legal methods, while others- the so-called “fixers”- resort to money, connections, and even threats. 

Authors: Eugeny Roshkov, Yury Panasik, Pavel Melnikov (Kesarev Consulting)

The Constitution confirms the rights of citizens to associate to protect their interests and guarantee freedom of activity of public associations. The rights of the business community are not separately reserved in the Constitution.

In respect of cooperation with the state, citizens have the following rights:

Source: Politico

Though the number of French MEPs will rise from 74 to 79, France’s presence in the European Parliament’s two most powerful parties (EPP & S& D) is set to fall, and many senior MEPs are retiring.

Despite making up 15 percent of the EU’s population post Brexit, France is only expected to take 5 percent of seats held by the EPP and the S&D. According to Politico’s projections, only 16 French nationals out of 317 MEPs are likely to be represented in the EPP and the S&D, compared to 33 in 2014.

Non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Il existe en France un entre-soi de caste : on sort souvent du même milieu, des mêmes grandes écoles. Il y a ensuite l’entre-soi des portes tournantes entre le privé et le public, entre les cabinets de lobbying et les cabinets d’élus. 

En 2017, 112,9 millions persons (or 22,5% of the EU  population) were at risk of  poverty or social exclusion. This means persons were affected by at least one of the following three conditions : risk of poverty after social transfers ( income poverty), severe material deprivation or living in households with very low working intensity.

Source Deutsche Bank Research

Austria

• FPÖ- Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (EFN)
• Current EP Seats (latest national polls) : 4 of 18 (24%)
• Core political positions on EU(ro), national sovereignty, migration : Reform of EU and euro, more sovereignty for nation state, pro referenda, restrictive immigration/asylum policy.

France