Case Studies

Don’t shoot from the hip

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President Carter’s Chief of Staff, Hamilton Jordon, was infamous for shooting from the hip. It harmed the Carter Presidency. Early on in Brussels, I learned never to shoot from the hip. I spent months re-launching a report for a client that had been shot down by the Commission. It was politically dead on arrival. The … Read more

How you can track legislative action, regulatory measures and fish stock collapse long before they ever happen

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I am surprised when people react as if a proposal came out of no-where. A deeper look often shows that there are clear indicators or signals that an issue is ripe for regulatory action, species collapse, or political action.  Harnessed, these indicators give you the chance to act to stop something happening. Ignored, as they … Read more

Re-opening the RAC’s work

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Back in July 2019, I looked at the few cases when the Commission asked the RAC to re-look at their decisions (see link). During the adoption of the 14th ATP, (link) the Commission flagged that they were putting on hold the adoption of the RAC’s June 2017 Opinion on DTPA. (6) With regard to the … Read more

lobbying inter-service consultation – some thoughts

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From time to time I am asked how the Commission adopts proposals.   Whilst one or two Commission departments seem to selectively ignore Inter-Service Consultation, I thought it would be useful to share some practical thoughts.   These ideas work well for most files, except for a limited number of files where Commission Departments don’t … Read more