Lobbying

Lobbying is the practice of private advocacy with the goal of influencing a governing body, in order to ensure that an individual's or organization's point of view is represented in the government. A lobbyist is a person who is paid to influence legislation as well as public opinion.

Lobbying in Brussels

As of 1999, the European Commission assumed the following numbers:

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• approximately 3 000 special interest groups of varying types in Brussels, with up to 10 000 employees working in the lobbying sector. (by contrast, in the United States, as of mid 2005, there were nearly 35,000 registered lobbyists for Congress alone.)
• Within this total there are more than 500 European and international federations (whose constituent members belonging to national associations number more than 5 000).
• about 50 offices in Brussels representing countries, regional and local authorities (some of which may of course participate in the institutional framework of the Community and it is only their other activities which are concerned by this communication).
• more than 200 individual firms with direct representation, and about 100 consultants (management, and public relations) with offices in Brussels and many others dealing with Community affairs.
• about 100 law firms in Belgium specializing in Community law and many more in other countries (both member states and beyond).