Question

How do American companies and other American stakeholders lobby in Europe? Do you think the Asian or American stakeholders are more effective at lobbying in Europe? How good are the Europeans at lobbying in Asia or the USA?

Answer 1

Lobbying is seen by many respondents as ensuring the participation of social and economic actors and citizens in the political process. Indeed, the possibilities for citizens or organisations to participate in the political process are often more effectively used through specific lobbying or campaigning activities.‘ethical and transparent lobbying helps policy development’ and most groups of lobbyists were generally perceived as being transparent, most notably trade associations, professional organisations, companies, trade unions and NGOs. These five groups were among those most commonly perceived as lobbyists; the other group generally thought of as lobbyists - public affairs agencies less transparentlobbying in the US and the EU have noted the markedly different lobbying styles: frequently aggressive advocacy approach in the US and a more consensus-oriented informational lobbying in the EU. While US groups and lobbyists oftentimes defend their immediate interest by trying to exert pressure on public officials, EU representatives seem to be more soft-spoken in their approach and are said to work in a more constructive manner with bureaucratic and political representatives. In particular, the passage rate of proposals, the fragmentation of public media, the electoral structure and the transparency of political negotiations create different incentive structures in the US and the EU. However, lobbying styles are more than the cumulative effect of these different elements. They are linked to the nature of the political system, of which the institutional constraints are a reflection. In contrast to the typically (but not exclusively) aggressive lobbying methods that one can observe in the US, lobbying in the EU is supposedly much more consensual and essentially based on the exchange of information.across Europe a significant number of lobbyists in both the ‘corporate’ and NGO sectors have difficulty understanding the political and legislative process, with 37% of respondents saying that this failing frequently applies to ‘corporate’ lobbyists and 39% to NGO lobbyists. each sector comes into the process too late or too early.It  is a matter of interest to be studied whether in terms of challenges, opportunities, transparency and potential access it has for influencing the political system of a country. And the two entities that make up more interest to be studied in relation to their properties or characteristics of lobbying are USA and EU. Although the techniques of lobbying in Brussels and in Washington are often regarded as the same, the differences in style and content are still existent between the two areas. The comparative analysis in this paper takes into account institutional differences that exist between the United States of America and European Union; the more strict regulatory approach that leads activities of lobbyists in USA and that less formal in regulating lobbying activities that characterizes the political institutions in the EU; differences that exist in the ways of funding the different lobbying groups; and the differences that exist in the ways of representing diverse interests between these two areas. From such a comparative perspective, this shows the diversities and differences that exist in lobbying between the USA and EU.