Thirteen students from the University of Greenwich are now in Gent in Belgium, joining up with a further 40 PR and Communications students from across Europe, studying lobbying and government relations in the EU. The two week study period is funded under the EU Erasmus programme and involves students from seven universities across Europe. Next year we will be joined by students from Lund in Sweden.
Going by last year, for students and academics a great cross-cultural learning experience and an excellent environment for exploring practice and theory. The Erasmus IP (intensive programme) enjoys great support from industry, trade associations, politicians and lobbying consultants and this year we have even more NGOs involved such as Finance Watch. We will also be meeting Philippe Lamberts, the Wallonian MEP, who has led the campaign in the European Parliament against the scale of bank bonuses, when we visit Brussels in the second week.
The timing for PR to explore lobbying in depth is timely. Although the EU has been talking about greater transparency in the lobbying process since 2003, it is only over the last 12 months that the Commission and Parliament have set up a joint register (previously two) for all parties involved in lobbying in the EU. As part of this process a Transparency Register web site has also been created and there will be a review of the whole process later this year. It is a process of transparency not backed by regulation such as in Canada and the USA, but the last 12 months do suggest that action is now starting to be taken. It will be interesting to hear the view of participants in the IP and what impact if any they are noticing - certainly our experience from the Erasmus IP last year, was that the new register or wider transparency agendas were not figuring strongly on organisations' radars.
(Source: Public Service Europe. 2013. http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/3245/eu-being-investigated-over-lobbying-and-ethics-again)
Going by last year, for students and academics a great cross-cultural learning experience and an excellent environment for exploring practice and theory. The Erasmus IP (intensive programme) enjoys great support from industry, trade associations, politicians and lobbying consultants and this year we have even more NGOs involved such as Finance Watch. We will also be meeting Philippe Lamberts, the Wallonian MEP, who has led the campaign in the European Parliament against the scale of bank bonuses, when we visit Brussels in the second week.
The timing for PR to explore lobbying in depth is timely. Although the EU has been talking about greater transparency in the lobbying process since 2003, it is only over the last 12 months that the Commission and Parliament have set up a joint register (previously two) for all parties involved in lobbying in the EU. As part of this process a Transparency Register web site has also been created and there will be a review of the whole process later this year. It is a process of transparency not backed by regulation such as in Canada and the USA, but the last 12 months do suggest that action is now starting to be taken. It will be interesting to hear the view of participants in the IP and what impact if any they are noticing - certainly our experience from the Erasmus IP last year, was that the new register or wider transparency agendas were not figuring strongly on organisations' radars.
(Source: Public Service Europe. 2013. http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/3245/eu-being-investigated-over-lobbying-and-ethics-again)
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