WHO WE ARE?

A NETWORK

EULOBBY-NETWORK is a formal linking people engaged in the field of lobbying across the EU and beyond. The network fosters innovative leadership and ensures the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in the field of lobbying. All members of the network are subordinated to the “EU Principles for the Ethical Conduct of Lobbying”

The defining characteristic of ELNET is that it is a member-owned entity with each member having a seat on the Board of Administration. Since every member is a part-owner of the network, the incentive for membership is at the membership level. The addition of a new member organization benefits both the new member and the network at large.

Each National Member pursues three core activities

1. Creation of a representative body of lobbyists (promotion, code of conduct, obtaining the legal recognition of the profession etc.). The purpose is to unify the industry

2. Education and Training in the field of lobbying (Campaigning/Strategy, Media/Public Opinion, Lobbying/Adocacy, Grassroots, Legal Framework, Ethics, New Technologies) through seminars, workshops, conferences

3. Pan-European Coalitions based on members' interests and specific issues

Members of the EULOBBY-NETWORK are

• Successful
• Connected
• Informed
• Influential
• Reliable

Challenges

There a numerous challenges to be faced:

Fragmentation

Associations of lobbyists in Member States (whenever they exist) represent public relations/public affairs consultancies leaving out other members of the profession such as lawyers, in-house organization lobbyists etc.. or they are divided.

Some categories of practitioners such as lawyers, in-house corporate lobbyists, trade associations lobbyists don’t have a representative body.

Currently lobbying fails to measure up as a profession on the basis of its existing and/or lack of representative bodies.

The Lobbyist Syndrome

 Instead of focusing on the valuable and legitimate role of lobbying in a democratic society [regardless of whether it is carried out by individual citizens or companies, civil society organizations and other interest groups or firms working on behalf of third parties] professional lobbyists have reinforced the “Lobbyist Syndrome” by failing to inform and educate both the public decision-makers and the public at large proactively about what lobbying is, what it stands for and what they do. Instead, they have been using disguised titles for fear of being called lobbyist e.g. parliamentary relations, government relations, public affairs, political PR, political marketing, parliamentary counselling, political opinion forming, issue management, among others. One clear benefit to lobbyists themselves of being unafraid of the term is that, otherwise, it is in grave danger of being appropriated for use solely by journalists and members of the public to reinforce a notion that influencing public policy is somehow illegitimate and unethical.

While acknowledging both that lobbying has had (and continues to suffer from) a poor reputation, and that the term lobbying does not reflect all the activities undertaken by practitioners in this field, lobbyists themselves should be more willing to state openly that they are lobbyists. In how many professions are practitioners unable to decide collectively how to refer to themselves? One consequence of the plethora of job descriptions and definitions that are employed by both academics and practitioners is that individual lobbyists find difficulty in achieving a common view of themselves as members of a professional group . A key step in the rehabilitation of the public perception of their work must be for lobbyists themselves to accept openly and explicitly that they are indeed lobbyists.

‘Lobbyist’ is far from an ideal term: it does suffer from public misconceptions, and it certainly fails to describe adequately the full range of activities which are undertaken by lobbyists. But that said, no term or definition yet employed entirely captures all that lobbyists do. Were lobbyists collectively to become more accepting of the word ‘lobbyist’, it would then be possible for them to move forward in terms of public perceptions and confidence. The term is now generally recognised, and more self-confident and vigorous leadership by organisations representing lobbyists would enable greater efforts to educate the public about the realities of lobbying

The Absence of Rules

In most Member States, there are no ground rules governing the activity of lobbyists except for Lithuania, Poland and Hungary and the United Kingdom (where the onus is on the lobbied and not on the lobbyists).

The objective is NOT to regulate lobbying which is a legitimate activity but to provide rules for minimum disclosure requirements and registration. It makes no sense to provide for coherence at the EU level when there’s incoherence or a total absence of rules at the Member State level.

The Recognition of the Profession

 There is a need to obtain the legal recognition of the profession throughout the European Union. Lobbying is now a well-established occupation, but it falls far short of having attained professional status . Professions are distinguished by their possession of (1) a systematic theory of the execution of the duties of the job; (2) authority to perform the job, authority recognized by the clientele of the profession; (3) community recognition and approval of this authority; (4) a code of ethics regulating relations with clients and colleagues; and (5) a professional culture sustained by formal organization . This presupposes the development in Member States of an infrastructure of norms, values, organisations.

Education and training

There is a need for lobbyists need to become more professional and more structured about the training and qualifications of government relations .

The area of education and training encompasses both formal third-level qualifications and continuing professional development programmes. Both are necessary, as many people already working as lobbyists have never taken any formal qualification in lobbying or even in politics. Lobbyists have a duty to be properly qualified for the work at which they are representing professional expertise. But there is still no common agreement amongst lobbyists, their employers or clients, or educators as to what constitute a proper qualification. All practitioners could be asked to participate in a recognised or even accredited continuing professional development programme. The ultimate value of education/training in any profession is that it regulates entry to the profession. Lobbyists generally perceive that their profession is held in low esteem by citizens. One of the inhibitions to public acknowledgment of the professional nature of lobbying is that there are no specific educational requirements for entry.