SCOPE AND INTENSITY OF LOBBYING IN GERMANY

It is difficult to precisely define the scope and intensity of lobbying in Germany, as no reliable figures are available. One difficulty lies in the fact that there is still no clarification as to who can be called a lobbyist. This is the challenge faced by future legal regulations regarding the registration, transparency and codes of conduct for lobbyists.

The following estimates can be assumed:

• Approx. 4,000 nationwide associations with 3 to 120 staff (2,270 organisations are registered in the German Bundestag’s association list (24/08/16) . Not all are active lobbyists, and even at large associations (e.g. BDI and BDA) with over 100 staff and, for example, at the DIHK, not all employees can be counted as lobbyists. Nevertheless, it is not just the managing directors, but rather also executive board members, divisional managers/committee managers etc. who represent interests.
• Approx. 120 company offices in Berlin, with an average of 4 staff
• Approx. 90 public affairs agencies with a total of some 1000 staff
• Approx. 50 think tanks based in Berlin
• Approx. 20 law firms which also engage in lobbying
• Approx. 200 scientists on advisory boards or as experts
• Approx. 30 business consultancies
• Approx. 30 scientific institutions and universities
• Approx. 25 foundations advising policymakers
• Approx. 300 individual lobbyists/political advisors

There is no reliable information on the financial expenses/sales turnover earned through lobbying. The number of persons targeted is also an important factor: members of the German Bundestag, parliamentary group staff, party staff, ministry staff, state office staff, members of the commissions run by the ministries and subordinate authorities. Lobbying continues to be dominated by the work of the associations, which make up approximately 80 percent of lobbyists. This estimate is based on the number of associations and their staff in proportion to the other stakeholders (think tanks, law firms, public affairs agencies, etc.), which are generally smaller with fewer resources. They have very few people involved with lobbying.

One form of “volitional lobbyist influence” is the hearing regularly organised by the ministries and Bundestag committees as part of legislative processes. This hearing, which occurs relatively late in the political process, is supplemented with personal discussions held directly at the officials’ or staff members’ offices at the ministries. In addition to these are numerous events cultivating informal contact. Estimates assume that a lobbyist can regularly cultivate approximately 80 contacts in the political sphere.

There are also research results on the average number of association contacts maintained by members of the German Bundestag. The most important political fields for lobbying continue to be those in which the state has heavy regulatory involvement: energy policy, industrial policy, health, financial markets and banks, transport and defence. For areas in which the state is itself a customer (e.g. defence), procurement involves lobbying.

Watchdog Groups (Civil Society, Media)

Civil society groups and the media, particularly investigative journalists, are a key factor in monitoring and controlling lobbying in Germany. The primary aims of both these forms of lobbying control are to create transparency, bring action for accountability, uphold democratic rules, expose corruption and misconduct, and scandalise the unfair influencing of political decisions. Freedom of opinion, press and information are guaranteed in the German constitution. The media and press are areas of politics for which the states are responsible, which is why press law is also a state matter. Media monitoring and controlling of lobbying is particularly performed through political journalism. There are around 10,000 political journalists, and around 300 politically focused newspapers (daily and weekly press) and magazines (Spiegel, Stern, Focus, Wirtschaftswoche, Manager-Magazin, etc.). But very few of these journalists work investigatively. Netzwerk Recherche, the association of investigative journalists, has about 640 members (2014). This network aims to expose and scandalise unfair lobbying by improving research conditions. In addition to print media, it is primarily the political magazine shows on publicly broadcast television which have frequently addressed the issue of lobbying.

Journalists’ investigative work ties in with the activities of civil-law watchdog groups, which have set themselves the task of intensively monitoring lobbying, presenting cases of corruption, unfair lobbying, and abuse of economic and media power to the public, and mobilising the media. They are: Lobbycontrol, abgeordentenwatch.de, Transparency International Deutschland and Campact. These groups are driven by the mission to create transparency, and therefore improve the quality of democracy. Their work is based on specialised knowledge, contacts, and political and media expertise.

1. Lobbycontrol was founded in 2006. Its aim is to expose lobbyists’ influencing strategies, and make these transparent. The organisation’s mission is an educational one, which it pursues with studies and PR, supplying the media with information on the legal breaches caused by lobby groups. Lobbycontrol considers itself an educational initiative seeking to promote democracy and public welfare, and use political and social reforms to give citizens more opportunities to have their say.
2. Abgeordnetenwatch.de is a new format of enlightening civil society on the relationship between interest groups and officials, using the Internet. The portal has existed at a federal level since December 2006. As its name states, it focuses on monitoring the behaviour or officials in parliament, and therefore a sub-area of civilsociety lobby control. Abgeordnetenwatch.de is a politically neutral information and dialogue platform on which users can receive information on the officials (profession, photo, contact address and areas of specialisation), as well as their voting behaviour and ancillary activities. Since 2009, there has also been information on the candidates in Bundestag (federal parliament) and Landestag (state parliament) elections, particularly in terms of their political stances.
3. Transparency International is known as a civil-society organisation geared around combating corruption. For many years, it has also devoted itself to the issue of lobbying, and has also developed a buzzword for this – responsible advocacy. However, criticism of lobbying has always been a latent focus, since corruption also has a political dimension. Specialising in bribery among officials, corruption in awarding contracts, and the ancillary activities of officials, Transparency tries to establish a link between corruption and lobbying. It has therefore expanded its sphere of action somewhat, and now also monitors the exercising of influence over political decision-makers. What is clear here is that Transparency pushes for greater transparency in relationships between lobbyists and political decision-makers. However, there is a fine line between legal and illegal exercising of influence. The text “Regulierung und Transparenz von Einflussnahme und Lobbyismus” (“Regulation and transparency of influencing and lobbying”) summarises Transparency’s key requirements.
4.  Campact is an organisation which does not essentially criticise or control lobbying in civil society. It is a novel initiative which organises campaigns, and can also quickly arrange supporters and protests for this purpose. The campaigns and protests it can systematically organise with its network of 720,000 contacts are mostly aimed at powerful economic and financial interests. The environmental policy is an important field. Campact’s partner organisations are the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), Bund Umwelt und Naturschutz (BUND), Attac, Oxfam, Mehr Demokratie and Transparency, and they provide expertise for the campaigns and protests. Campact can be included in a series of civil-society organisations focused on forming a “countervailing power” and therefore also monitoring powerful interest groups. They initiate protests, thereby contributing to democratic participation. For example, these protests seek to act against the interests of “green” genetic engineering, against the operators of nuclear power plants, and against powerful interest groups in climate policy. Overall, Campact strives to strengthen citizens’ rights of participation, and demands that officials’ ancillary income be disclosed.