EU Advocacy Training

Teacher(s)

Andolfatto Thimotée-Hubert Jéromine; Denis Benjamin; Verheecke Lora;

Language

English

Main themes

This training is a hands-on course that familiarizes students with the practice of advocacy and lobbying in the EU. Through real-life cases, students learn the rules, practices and strategies that are key to successfully approaching EU policy-makers. 

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

understand a complex political topic currently discussed at EU level understand, summarise and defend a specific policy option on that topic identify the key actors and present a strategy for advancing that position at EU level.

Content

The aim of the course is to familiarise students with the wide spectrum of advocacy and lobbying practices at European level. Starting with an overview of the EU institutions and their role in the decision-making process, various examples and practices will be presented to students, often by actors themselves.
The lessons will browse the following topics:

• Introduction (basic concepts, institutions and processes);
• Lobbying and advocacy seen from institutions
• Green advocacy
• How do industry lobbyists work? The examples of the automotive and rail supply industries
• Trade unions in the EU bubble: negotiate, influence, mobilise
• EU policies and gender: all policies are gendered, introduction to the topic of gender mainstreaming, with a focus on lobbying for women’s rights and gender equality with an intersectional approach.
• Case study: Advocacy at the EU level during the 2024 EU elections
• Lobby tour in the EU quarter
• Case study: How platforms (Uber, etc.) lobbied on the platform workers directive
• (If time allows) Case study: Corporate lobbying on the Chemicals Sustainable Strategy
• Debate on the impact of corporate lobbying on EU democracy

The first five lessons will be taught by Benjamin Denis
The following three lessons will be taught by Jéromine Andolfatto
The two next lessons will be taught by Lora Verheecke
The final class is dedicated to the evaluation of students, with the three teachers.

Teaching methods

The course will mix different teaching methods. Lectures will be kept to a minimum to give priority to interactive seminars, case studies, debates with players, a visit of the lobby offices in the EU quarter and practical exercises.

Evaluation methods

For the last class scheduled on 20/12/2024, students will prepare an advocacy strategy on a topic of their choice and will present it in 10 minutes, in groups made of 2 to 3. The presentation will be followed by questions. There will be only one grade for the entire course.
In the course of October, students will get precise guidelines sketching the specific content and format expected for their advocacy strategy.
Students will be able to choose the EU directive/regulation they want to advocate on but they will not be allowed to elaborate a strategy on a EU legislation used as a case study during the course.
Attendance at class sessions is necessary to prepare for the assessment session, as no written material will be distributed.
Students are expected to deliver a personal production. We only tolerate the use of generative AI for the purposes of editing, translating and presentation designing. The use of AI must be clearly indicated in the relevant parts . Students are expected to comply scrupulously with the rules and good practice regarding citation, referencing and avoidance of plagiarism. Students are expected to know and understand these rules and practices. Any breach of these rules may

Online resources

https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/home/home.do
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/
https://howtheyvote.eu/
https://eige.europa.eu/
https://genderbudgeting.eu/
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/femm/home/highlights
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/
https://womenlobby.org/IMG/pdf/ewl_manifesto_-_lobbying_kit_digital.pdf
https://womenlobby.org/IMG/pdf/ewl_manifesto_-_english.pdf
https://www.edf-feph.org/publications/gender-mainstreaming-toolkit/
https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FINAL_DIGITAL_21.6.22_How_just_and_how_equal.pdf

Bibliography

Comte, Jean, Au coeur du lobbying européen, Presses Universitaires de Liège (PUL), 2023
Dialer, Doris, Richter, Margarethe, Lobbying in the European Union : strategies, dynamics and trends, Cham : Springer, 2019, xi, 459 p.
Harris, Phil, Bitonti, Alberto, Lobbying in Europe : public affairs and the lobbying industry in 28 EU countries, London : Palgrave MacMillan, 2017, XXIX, 368 p.
Horel, Stéphane. Lobbytomie. Comment les lobbies empoisonnent nos vies et la démocratie, La Découverte, 2018
Klüver, Heike, Lobbying in the European Union : interest groups, lobbying coalitions, and policy change, Oxford : Oxford university press, 2013, xvii, 278 p.
Laurens, Sylvain, Bureaucrats and Business Lobbyists in Brussels. Capitalism’s Brokers, Routledge, 2018
Witteman, Lise, Who’s Watching Brussels? Why the EU Deserves Better Watchdogs, Follow the Money, 2024

Faculty or entity

> IEEB