France entered a shallow recession in the first three months of the year as the economy contracted by 0.2% because of weak exports, investment and household spending, preliminary data from the INSEE statistics agency are showing.

The ability of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to monitor a government's activities and to hold authorities accountable hinges on several factors- their internal capacity and the political environment in which they operate.

Civil society's ability to serve as a check and stabilize influence on a state depends on its capacity to successfully innovate and establish productive working relationship with the government.

Lobbying is a reality in modern democracies and a growing business. While it can improve the quality of public decisions by providing expert information, lobbying may also result in vast influence by powerful interests at the expenses of the public interest. To help address growing concerns, in 2010 OECD countries adopted Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying as guidance to decision-makers on how to promote good governance in lobbying.

Foeign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina- Institute for Education held a Seminar on 8 May 2013 entitled: Perception of lobbying into business, public and construction sector- Experiences of the countries in the Region.

Five members of the euro currency union are receiving loans from the eurozone bailout fund, financed by the other 12 eurozone members. On top of that come emergency loans from the International Monetary fund (IMF) and bilateral loans from the solvent states to the bankrupt candidates.

Integrity cannot be legislated. There will always be people who follow the rules right to the letter, there are always those who will actively look at how to skirt or bend that same rules or look at the rules as a hindrance.

The OECD defines 'lobbying' as solicited communication, oral or written, with a public official to influence legislation, policy or administrative decisions and recognizes that although 'lobbying' most often focuses on the legislative branch, it does also occur within the executive and sub-national governments as well, for example by influencing the design of development projects and the award of contracts.

The OECD is currently carrying out new data collection and analysis of the lobbying situation in OECD member and non-member countries. In this regard, the study seeks to gain insight into the rules and guidelines governing lobbying by collecting first hand views from individual public affairs professionals and lobbyists.

While in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, AALEP has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) respectively with the Croatian Lobbyists Society, the Serbian Lobbyists Society, the Montenegro Lobbyists Society and the Macedonian Lobbyist Center.

Each MOU establishes a framework for both parties to work together in an effort to offer joint seminars and facilitate the exchange of professional expertise in the area of public policy advocacy and lobbying.

The ability to proactively shape debate by directly engaging with the public early on is critical. Of course shaping public debate is easier said than done, and the evolution of debate is hardly linear. It’s messy, complex, grueling, and gets exponentially more difficult for communications to influence as it grows over time. Best then is to influence public opinion before issues become legislative priorities.