Public Policy Advocates must be prepared to have everything they say placed on the record and keep their contribution timely and to the point.

10 Golden rules for Public Policy Advocacy in the European Parliament

Public Policy Advocacy is both an art and science. As an art it has a general set of fundamentals  which when applied increase public policy advocacy quality.

The EU presents itself as deeply divided over the issue of Turkey's membership of the Union. The respective positions of the member states are backed by a bundle of arguments concerning eventual political and economic problems and/or consequences of Turkish membership.

The "Pro" Camp

Influencing political outcomes has many synonyms including educating lawmakers and providing helpful information. Public Policy Advocacy is about “educating,” “informing,” “advising”

Engaging solely with the government alone is not adequate. To maximize impact, you need  advocacy programmes that engage other critical stakeholders including regulatory bodies, NGOs, press and think-tanks. Successful advocacy and political influence are built on careful strategy, drawing on the key disciplines of:

Codes of conduct typically address the relationships inherent in lobbying amongst lobbyists and their clients or employers, public office holders, and the general public. While existing codes of conduct differ in detail, they all incorporate similar principles, such as the need for frank disclosure, appropriate confidentiality, and the avoidance of real or perceived conflicts of interest.

TRANSPARENCY

Lobbying in the countyries of the former Yugoslavia is a relatively new phenomenon, but it has been growing constantly over the last decade. However, most of the population and decision-makers have a very unclear idea of what lobbying actually is.

In all countries of the former Yugoslavia, lobbyists attempt to get an official recognition that lobbying is a unique profession.

The Public Policy Advocacy landscape does not just include 'lobbyists' as meaning parties paid to have a direct personal communication with government officials with the objective to influence policies and decision-making processes. The reality is that today the public policy advocacy process has become much more sophisticated and often involves large teams of individuals and organizations with various specialties that are not subject to regulatory and transparency requirements.

The EU Commission has intensified its dialogue on the rule of law with candidate and potential candidate countries. In the reports on these countries, the fight against corruption has been highlighted. The aim of the dialogue on the rule of law is to strengthen benchmarking aimed at enhanced transparency at earlier stages of the accession process as well as building capacities and establishing effective tools in fighting corruption in respective countries.

AALEP Chair (Mr. Christian D. de Fouloy) has been invited by the European Commission to serve as Expert on the occasion of an event organized within the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission (TAIEX) in cooperation with the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice/Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative and RACVIAC-Centre for Security Cooperation that will take place in Podgorica, Montenegro on 05-06 June 2013.

The definition of Public Policy Advocacy and Public Policy Advocates is a complex issue. From our perspective, the definition should be simple and capture the widest possible range of public policy advocacy activities: A Public Policy Advocate is anyone paid to (i) arrange or facilitate contact with officials; (ii) communicate with officials to influence legislation, regulation, or government policy, and for government contracts and grants; and (iii) work in support of (i) and/or (ii).