to the presentation - Lobbying Survey | Burson

LAUNCH OF THE 5TH
BURSON-MARSTELLER
LOBBYING SURVEY
A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE
LOBBYING
Brussels, 3 June 2013
Methodology
1
2
Qualitative
survey
nearly 600
respondents
5th B-M
Lobbying Survey
5
Online, phone
and face to face
interviews
3
6
4
Respondents:
Respondents:
Senior officials
Politicians
(National
(MPs and MEPs) Governments and EU)
7
Local polling
agencies run
the survey
8
PSB analysed
the data
Dates of
fieldwork:
Jan – Apr 2013
Who are Lobbyists?
The most recognised lobbyists overall are:
o 66% : Trade associations
o 58% : Public affairs agencies
o 57% : Professional organisations
A Brussels particularity: 73% of EU-level respondents deem
trade unions as lobbyists contrasting with the Europewide average (40%)
Positive Aspects of Lobbying
No overwhelming agreement across Europe on the
most positive aspect of lobbying
Ensuring the participation of social and economic
actors and citizens in the political process
emerged as the leading response (37%)
Negative Aspects of Lobbying
Lack of transparency remains the most prevalent
weakness in lobbying practice
Giving undue weight in the process to elites and
wealthy represents the 2nd most negative aspect of
lobbying but figures vary across Europe:
– European average: 24%
– Norway: 55%
– Hungary and Romania: both 40%
– Spain: 5%
– Italy: 3%
Transparency
Nearly 9 out of 10 respondents across
Europe either strongly agree (25%) or agree
(64%) with the statement that “ethical and
transparent lobbying helps policy
development”
Transparency
The least transparent lobbyists: journalists
(41%) and law firms (38%)
The most transparent: Trade associations and
federations (65%) and professional organisations
(60%), with companies (57%), trade unions (56%)
and NGOs (55%)
Public affairs agencies perform
poorly in comparison with the other
organisations
Regulation of Lobbying
The majority (56%) of
respondents across Europe
think that lobbying is not
sufficiently regulated in
their country
100%
Figures are high in
Portugal, Spain, the Czech
Republic and Italy
93%
88%
87%
This view is most strongly present in Portugal (88%),
Poland (87%), Italy (83%) and at EU level (79%)
Norway is the only country where more than half of
respondents (51%) do not think a mandatory register would
be useful
Lobbying Effectiveness
Trade associations are perceived as the
most effective in lobbying, with 62% of
respondents across Europe ranking them
as „effective‟ or „very effective‟
Exception in Germany: respondents found
NGOs (78%) and public affairs agencies
(71%) to be the most effective
Poor Practices
A significant number of lobbyists in both the „corporate‟
(37%) and NGO (39%) sectors have difficulty
understanding the political and legislative process
Around a third of respondents said that each sector
comes into the process too late or too early
One in four respondents said that there is still a
significant problem with „corporate‟ lobbyists offering
what are perceived to be unethical inducements
Channels of Influence
The Europe-wide data suggests that the sources of
information that respondents find most useful are
internal meetings and documents from national
authorities
Social media and traditional media, including media
websites, appear to be seen as not particularly
helpful
The Use of Social Media
Policy-makers often consult company websites (43%
using them daily or at least once a week), industry
association websites (41%), NGO websites (37%) and
Wikipedia (38%)
Nearly a fifth of the respondents use Facebook daily for
work, and a similar proportion uses Twitter every day
(although 49% never use it)
Insight from Brussels
Lobbyists are more likely to get a meeting if
-They provide relevant useful information (77%)
-They are transparent (64%)
-They are publically registered (57%)
The most effective lobbyists are in the following
sectors: agriculture (75%), energy (77%),
healthcare (71%) and chemicals (66%)
Website
www.lobbyingsurvey.eu
Thank you