A political level public policy advocacy strategy cannot succeed without the engagement of senior politicians, state officials and representatives of business and other important elements of society. The key constraint in Montenegro at this time is the scarcity of human resources needed to improve Montenegro’s public policy advocacy with the EU:

There are less than 5 months left until the famous Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in late November. However, the political decision on the fate of the Agreement will be made by the EU member states at a meeting of the EU Council already in October on the basis of assessments of progress made by Ukraine.

Ukraine as a recipient of EU assistance has never proactively engage the European Union for its development priorities and the amount of aid required. It is high time for Ukraine to change this approach and to show a conscious commitment to European integration and its ability to reform. First, the Ukrainian government and non-state actors have to agree on the strategic priorities of national development. Secondly, a need assessment must be carried out and the cost of the reform process determined.

There is a strong consensus among government and opposition in Ukraine towards the “European destiny” of the country. The EU needs to avoid Ukraine being pushed into the arms of Russia, and that an independent Ukraine best serve European ambitions and EU geo-strategic interests.

The EU has made a significant political investment in Kiev over the years. Yet, Brussels’s policy and the instruments it has used have had little impact on Ukraine. The country is moving further away from the EU and into a gray zone of no reform.

Trade associations play specific roles to influence policies, which include: facilitating dialogue, engaging and advising policymakers and advocating for a policy. Most trade associations at national or EU level play more than one role in the policy influencing process. Advising policymakers seems to be the most frequent role but it is often combined with other roles.

Trade associations engage with and advise policymakers either upon the request from policymakers or they may play this role even when it is not explicitly solicited.

The main purpose of the job of EU Policy Advisor is to take the lead in developing and advising on the European dimension of a wide and varied range of subjects within his/her field. This is a challenging role because the EU Policy Advisor has to take responsibility for giving expert analysis and strategic policy advice. It also includes designing and implementing an effective public policy advocacy strategy to influence key policymakers at EU level.

There are roughly 1,500 European Trade Associations that play a prominent role in EU public affairs. They may be divided into 3 categories: Large, Medium and Small. The main challenge for European Associations is finding consensus between corporate members who compete with each other for market share, and national associations with very different cultures. In the wake of the financial crisis there is an expectation for stronger association leadership among their members.

The public's unhappiness with official Washington has reached new heights, according to a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. A whopping 83 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress' job performance, an all-time high in the survey's history. And nearly six-in-10 voters (57%) say they'd vote to replace every single member of Congress if they had such an option on their ballot, another all-time high.

Besides European interest groups, national trade associations groups also lobby actively in Brussels. For national trade associations , there are two alternatives.  They either approach their  national politicians or parties that represent their interests in Brussels or they engage directly in public policy advocacy. They may also form alliances to bundle their interests. By pooling resources, national trade associations may share and coordinate information, contacts and political positions effectively. In addition, they may manage to create broad coalitions.

Unemployment hits record high unemployment across the Eurozone at 12.2% leaving nearly 20 million people out of work. The figure in parenthesis shows the percentage of unemployed among people under 25 years of age. 1 in 4 Europeans who want work cannot find a job. Rocketing unemployment particularly among the young may feel resentment against the Europ, and result in grave social consequences. Citizens may turn their backs on Europe and the constrction of the European project.