ILobby.eu


Book Description

With iLobby.eu, Caroline De Cock draws on extensive firsthand experience to present a thorough guide to lobbying the European Union using both traditional methods and social media tools. This practical handbook includes an introduction to lobbying, with tips and anecdotes, recommendations for the use of social media, comprehensive indices, and detailed examples of best and worst practices.




Negotiating the EU’s 2030 Climate and Energy Framework


Book Description

In 2014, European heads of state selected new targets for the EU as part of the 2030 climate and energy framework. These targets will guide the ambition and nature of EU policy in this area until 2030 and are likely to have important implications for Europe’s transition to a low-carbon economy. This book exposes the role of civil society and business interest groups in setting the policymaking agenda and defining the range of options for the framework. Based on a unique sample of 32 in-depth interviews with Brussels policy elites, this book casts EU interest representation in a new light. In a novel application of the ‘multiple streams approach’, sequential chapters present the problems faced by policymakers, the range of policy options available to address them and the political constraints within which policy entrepreneurs attempted to attached policies to problems.




Lobbymakt i EU


Book Description

Lobbyisterna har tagit över Bryssel. Och lobbyaktiviteterna har de senaste åren eskalerat. Politikerna har förlorat makten till särintressen som formar politiken genom tankesmedjor, lobbyorganisationer och mäktiga intresseföreningar. Ungefär 80 procent av de lagar som påverkar Sverige kommer från EU. Men vilka är krafterna som i bakgrunden rycker i beslutsfattarnas trådar? Författarna lyfter på locket till Bryssels dolda makthavare: Lobbyisterna. Skildringar ges från olika miljöer där frön till EU-lagar diskret strös ut i välplanerade strategiska kampanjer. Vi får besöka ”oberoende” seminarier hos tankesmedjor och bevittna arbetsmöten i EU-parlamentet dit lobbyister får tillträde trots politikers missnöje. Samtidigt står det klart att svenska företag förlorar stora pengar på att de ännu inte förstått hur inflytelserikt Bryssel är. Nuvarande och tidigare EU-kommissionärerna Cecilia Malmström och Anita Gradin intervjuas. Det gör också EU-parlamentarikerna Carl Schlyter, Christofer Fjellner, Gunnar Hökmark och Marita Ulvskog. Författarna har även träffat den svenska makteliten i form av Erik Belfrage – svensk industriman och rådgivare till familjen Wallenberg och med aktiv roll i Bryssels tankesmedjor: ”… Det är ett bra sätt att få tillträde till kommissionen och kommissionärerna, och det gäller för övrigt också att det underlättar i kontakterna med EU-parlamentet och Europeiska rådet.” Tankesmedjan Ecipes vd och grundare Fredrik Erixon, utsedd till en av Bryssels 30 mest inflytelserika av Financial Times, hymlar inte med hur det ser ut: ”… Vi får ofta erbjudanden från både stater och företag om att göra studier mot betalning där de på förhand säger vad de vill ha ut av den.” Karl Isaksson, chef för lobbygiganten Kreab Gavin Andersons Brysselkontor: ”På samma sätt som alla har rätt till en advokat, på samma sätt tycker jag att alla har rätt till en lobbyist. ”Det finns exempel på regelutformningar där det ges ekonomiska incitament för att exempelvis bilar eller andra fordon inte ska vara äldre än ett visst antal år. En sådan lag, vilken vid första anblicken ser ut att handla om säkerhet eller miljö, kan mycket väl vara initierad från bilindustrin i syfte att sälja fler bilar.” Om författarna. Olle Nygårds är journalist specialiserad på näringslivsfrågor och med fil. kand i nationalekonomi. Han har tidigare arbetat som underrättelseanalytiker och även arbetat med korruptionsfrågor. Födelseår är 1969. Minal Parekh Nygårds är egenföretagare och javaprogrammerare. Födelseår är 1971. ”Vi är positiva till företagande men tveksamma till all sammanblandning av politik och näringsliv som sker utan insyn.” Boken är skriven under åren 2012 och 2013 och till stor del från Frankrike och Belgien.




Local Government in the European Union


Book Description

This book addresses the ‘bigger picture’ of local-European relations and adds a new dimension to existing studies on multilevel governance and the Europeanisation of local government. Drawing from a combination of European integration theories and operational approaches, it introduces the idea of an integration cycle in which local government responds to the top-down impact of the EU internally, horizontally and vertically. This volume presents a wide range of empirical examples to demonstrate how local authorities across Europe have changed their practices, orientation and preferences, and adapted their institutions and organisation. Not only do cities, towns and counties cooperate with each other across borders and through transnational networks and partnerships, but by mobilising formally and informally, local actors participate in and influence European governance and contribute to the future trajectories of European integration, thereby completing the integration cycle.




Subterranean Politics in Europe


Book Description

The demonstrations and occupations that emerged across Europe in 2011-12 struck a chord in public opinion in a way that has not been true for many years. Based on research carried out across the continent, this volume investigates why this is occurring now and what they tell us about the future of the European project.




Partnering for the Environment


Book Description

Environmental policy domains are increasingly adopting strategies of cooperation over those of conflict. Decision-making processes founded upon collaboration and public participation are receiving more attention and favor and, in turn, engendering multistakeholder environmental partnerships. In his thoughtful analysis, Eric C. Poncelet seeks to illuminate the mechanics of these partnerships, especially at the level of social interaction. Drawing on ethnographic research performed with four case study partnerships in the European Union and the United States, Poncelet focuses on the diverging ways that stakeholders think, talk, and conventionally act with regard to the environmental issues at stake. Also explored are the roles of environmental partnerships as sites of personal transformation, where participants_and their perspectives, conceptualizations, and expectations_can and do change. Partnering for the Environment concludes by examining the broader implications of multistakeholder partnerships for the future of environmental decision-making and suggests ways by which these partnerships may be more effectively used and managed.







Fielding's Budget Europe


Book Description




Going Nowhere


Book Description

The story of Joan Ruddock, born in the Welsh valleys, who came to lead one of Britain's biggest protest movements and went on to address the United Nations, before becoming an MP and minister, is a remarkable one. After her election to the Commons in 1987, Joan held three consecutive shadow posts and, by 1997, was thought to be on the fast-track to high office. Despite having what was perceived by all to be a promising political future ahead, she was overlooked in Tony Blair's early appointments and, as such, branded 'going nowhere' by the press. The slight, though shocking, proved to be baseless, and Joan was soon appointed the first ever full-time Minister for Women. It was a portfolio that saw her, alongside Harriet Harman, push through a radical agenda, getting sacked for her pains a year later. Undaunted, she ran a number of high-profile campaigns from the back benches, including opposing GMOs, championing Afghan women's rights and modernising the Commons. A frank and good-humoured account of a life punctuated by political activism as well as personal tragedy, Going Nowhere is the story of how Joan defied expectations and maintained her resolve throughout twenty-eight uninterrupted years in Parliament.




AWEPA Bulletin


Book Description




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