WHAT NEW MEPs SHOULD KNOW ABOUT LOBBYISTS

As a new Member of the European Parliament, you will frequently have to deal with complex and technical issues on which you will need to be briefed. Your Assistants and Policy Advisors may not necessarily be experts on the dossier under consideration.

A key part of your job will be to listen to the groups who will be most affected by proposed legislation. That may be industry lobbyists, trade unions or employers' groups. It may be other interest groups, like charities, or NGOs. Whoever it is, you will need to listen, and to engage with them. That does not necessarily mean, of course, agreeing with them. You will no doubt ask challenging questions and you will frequently hear from different groups on opposite sides of a question.

Lobbying is essential to the functioning of the European Parliament, and particularly so when you will be attempting to gauge the impact of policies on specific sectors. Interest groups' provision of information and technical expertise to you will often ensure more informed policy formulation.

As a Member of the European Parliament, you will have an extremely busy agenda and you will be confronted with many varied matters of importance. Lobbyists will help you sort out the facts and the consequences of the decisions you will have to make. They will provide you with information and translate complex and technical information into brief 'digestible" notes.

Most lobbyists are principled people who know that their word is their bond. The best of its practitioners know that what you need is information that is straightforward, understandable, and accurate. Lobbyists are not inherently corrupting, nor does their primary influence stem from some devilish power to automatically compel legislative outcomes through personal connections, as is commonly believed. Rather, their influence comes from their ability to become an essential part of the policymaking process by providing enough information and expertise to help shape your thinking. Consider them necessary to the process and as either collaborators, educators and even as partners.

Finally, you will have the ultimate responsibility to assess and judge a lobbyist: where he/she comes from, for whom he/she speaks, what his/her interests are. It will be up to you to give careful consideration to all sides on any given policy issue, including how the policy might affect ordinary citizens.