Grolleman predicts that the new, fractured European Parliament will be good for the lobbying business. “It’s much more difficult for companies to go in and advocate their case now” because standing coalitions won’t work, and more Euroskeptics are expected to stop “wasting” their votes and get involved in legislating.
Paul Adamson, chairman of Forum Europe and host of ESharp! (Listen to full interview)
Adamson is a godfather of the Brussels lobbying scene, arriving in Brussels 40 years ago — ”when dinosaurs roamed the Earth,” he joked — founding and running consultancies, think-tanks, magazines, events companies and now the ESharp! podcast.
of telegram data lobbying: “It’s a cheap thing to say that lobbyists are all on the make and dishonest and acting in a nefarious way,” he said. “Some don’t like to call themselves lobbyists or to be seen and described as lobbyists. Everybody in the EU framework is lobbying in some shape or form. Other member state governments, third country representations, missions, embassies, Civil society groups, trade unions, charities, NGOs, and last but not least, obviously corporations and their trade associations. Everybody is lobbying in some shape or form.”
Adamson says one of the great ironies of Brexit is that leaving the EU will require a massive expansion of British lobbying in Brussels. “There’s a kind of conventional wisdom that the Brits are being written out of the plot or writing themselves out the plot. On the contrary, there’s going be a whole new and rather interesting stage where Brits are actually the biggest lobbyists of all,” he said.
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