Private Interests

The President of the French National Assembly Mr. Claude Bartolome is calling for a political confrontation with Germany to reject austerity. It should be mentioned that indeed François Hollande may have campaigned on policies to end austerity and return to fiscal stimulus, but once he was elected and the French parliamentary election was over, he actually reverted back and pushed through an austerity budget in France with the consolidation of about € 30 billion. And he also pushed through the fiscal compact, which was, of course, very much Chancellor Merkel's idea.

Advocacy is a process of articulating a position on a particular cause or issue. It involves engaging relevant power centres and influencing the policy-makers to take or abandon a particular position. The role of policy advocacy is to set up a counter dialogue or promote policy dialogue to demonstrate to policy-makers where policy change is required. Policy advocacy can fill institutional and geographical space while bridging language and communication barriers between policy-makers and those unable to articulate their concerns.

There are two very good reasons to do the speaking circuit for high profile personalities from the world of politics and the media: One is money and the other is exposure. Depending on the circumstances, it could be argued that either of those two incentives is more important than the other.

When registering in the Transparency Register of the European Union, Interest Representatives (as they are called) are invited to list their fields of interest. The listing equates more or less to the Directorates General of the European Commission e.g.

Hereafter are the views of Government Officials (State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration; Head of Government Office for Regulatory Reform and Regulatory Impact Analysis); Parliament (Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee Chairman, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia); Chamber of Commerce (Serbian Chamber of Commerce Vice-President); Serbian Lobbyists Association (President; Vice-President for Internal Relations and Development); Journalists Association (Secretary General);  NGOs (Programme Director at NGO Transparency Serbia).

The Hanns Seidel Foundation is organizing a Panel Discussion in Brussels on 25 April on 'The Strategic Relations between the EU and Russia' with the participation of Dr. Angelika Schlunk (Director of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the European Union), Mr. Christian Forstner (Director of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Brussels), Mr. Konstantin Kosachev (Chairman of the Federal Agency for the Relations with the CIS States, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma 2003-2011), Mr.

The Macedonian Lobbying Centre is part of the Macedonian Science Society. It is based in Bitola, a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia in the region called Pelagonia. The Lobbying Centre is presided by Mr. Marjan Tanusevkski.

The Centre offers lobbying as an accredited subject, as part of higher education curricula, teaching to students so they will know how to lobby and respect the regulations in the process. Students are taught how to lobby in a transparent manner as well as how to become professional lobbyists some day.

Although the components that define Public Policy Advocacy may be the same in most countries, how they impact policies may be quite different. Public Policy Advocates must begin with an understanding of the broader legal, economic and cultural environment in which government decisions are made as well as the evolution of the system.

Successful policy influence hinges on four critical pillars, namely, the quality of strategy, the extent and functionality of networks, the level of political and legal sophistication, and the ability to leverage knowledge and information and communications technology (ICT)

1. The quality of strategic planning has a direct bearing on the success of public policy advocacy: Poor quality policy input often stems from a lack of a clear and coherent strategy. You won't be able to achieve desired outcome without adequate strategic planning.