If you want to succeed in influencing European public policy or law, there are simple things you need to know and have.
If you want to win, you need all 10.
- You need to have a position.
You have to have a clear and public position that you agree. You need your position early on in the policy cycle. It has to be public. If you think you can influence people by telepathy, you are going to be disappointed.
If your position is no change, and the policy cycle has kicked in, you are going to need to bring a lot of weight to bear to halt the momentum for change.
2. You need to have evidence to support your position. That evidence has to be public, credible and objective.
It is great you have a position. You need to have persuasive evidence to back your case. The evidence has to be public. Hinting at something does not make it real. I have a fond spot for genuine world-class experts, the Vaclav Smil’s of this world. If not that, shadow impact assessments, prepared by the consultants the Commission use (using the Better Regulation criteria to the letter), on point studies, and even anecdotal evidence.
3. You need to have a public policy solution.
If the Commission, or the Member States, or MEPs, or even all 3, are saying that there is a public policy problem, you need to bring a tangible and practical solution to the table. Just saying there is no issue is not going to cut it.
4. You need to have a legal solution.
You need to have the ‘ideal’ legislative text at hand to make your case. Policy and lawmakers want to see how they can take your solution and convert it into legal reality. If you have a good idea but no clear legal text written down on paper that you can hand over to an official or politician, you just have a good idea that is going nowhere.
5. You need to know where the proposal is.
The steps a law or policy go through from ideation to final adoption are more or less identical. You just need to know where the file is so you know what to bring to the table, to who and by whom.
6. You need to know how policies and laws are made.
How every country or jurisdiction really adopts and passes laws is in practice different. Brussels works in a different way than DC, Berlin or Paris. What works in DC, Berlin or Paris is not automatically going to work in Brussels. The process and the style are different. A lot of people get stuck by playing the same game they use outside Brussels in Brussels.
6. You need to know who is steering the proposal.
You need to know who is drafting the law or policy and who is deciding at each stage of the journey. The people who may be important during one step are not necessarily the same throughout.
7. You need to be trusted by the people steering the proposal through.
You need to be trusted by the officials and politicians taking the proposal through. If you are not, your chances of success are low. I’ve seen EU Ambassadors okay a proposal because of their personal respect for the Commission Director in the room. I’ve seen a “sure thing” position collapse after it was seen as too close to someone not trusted by mainstream players.
7. You need to have enough broad (political) support.
It really does not matter how smart your solution is, persuasive your evidence, or good your legal amendments are, if you don’t have enough (political) support. If you think your case will stand or fall just on the weight of your opinion of it’s strengths, you are in for a nasty shock. You need to get enough support to get what you want through. If that’s enough support in an Expert Committee, Scientific body, or votes in the EP or Council, that’s what you really need. The smart solution, good evidence, good legal text, and cross-party support, is just a prelude to getting enough support (votes). If your support is concentrated around one political group or country, your chances of getting enough support(votes) is low.
8. You need to have the right people who can prepare your case and make your case.
You need to have good people to prepare your case, as well as good people to make your case. They are often not the same people. Just because you are an expert in the issue does not mean you can make the case well to actual living and breathing people. Anyone who has worked in academia will know this to be true. This is something many get wrong.
9. You need to have the resources on hand for the duration of the policy cycle.
Few organisations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, have a long term perspective to influencing European public policy or law. The average timescale, from ideation to implementation, is around 10 years. The resources include the right expertise, respected people on staff, and funds for the duration.
10. You need the right mindset. Grit, persistence, adaptability, and humility are key.
The best attitudes for winning in this arena are grit. You’ll get rejected a lot, and you’ll dust off your jacket, and get back. You need to be persistent to get the meetings you need. It helps if you can adapt your language to make your case when you meet the many interests whose support you’ll need. If your view of the world is that “it is my way or the highway”, you’ll find yourself with people who were always on your side, no matter what, and they are not going to be enough to help you win. Finally, the very best lobbyists I know bring genuine humility to their work and to meetings that help persuade people back their position. No Patek Philip watches and raised voices for the rare breed of genuinely successful lobbyist.