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In the US the way to influence politics is campaign contributions to politicians. In Europe that kind of blatant influence is frowned upon, but it seems like co

In the US the way to influence politics is campaign contributions to politicians. In Europe that kind of blatant influence is frowned upon, but it seems like companies are still trying to take a page from the same playbook by influencing politics through academics instead.

PoignardAzur 5y ago
Also most european countries have campaign budget limitations, so campaign contributions don't have that much weight to begin with.
belter 5y ago
Lobbying in general is way more corrupt in Europe than in US. In the US the fact that professional lobbyists exist, puts pressure on non official operations and makes it easier to track registered lobbyists. This does not make US based activities less censurable, but in Europe the current model is one of voluntary registration. Google based lobbying actions in the European Union are no less intense: 249 meetings! Its amazing how much time EU officials seem to have. https://www.integritywatch.eu/organizations https://www.integritywatch.eu/organizations From their results looks like Google is not getting back their money worth...
- dathinab 5y ago
  Just to be clear I'm not saying it's not a problem, but: > 249 meetings! The parliament alone has more then 700 members, idk. if 249 for one of the largest tech companies is really that bad. The problem are less the number of meetings but a lot of other things around it.
  - belter 5y ago
    Make that actually 260 meetings....sometimes 12 times with the same persons. Full PDF List here: https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do;TRPUBLIC-ID-prod=wtcEHkTzIZ1Lhj_I-rxrHywzRl7GYqDX9aAd-LdUBNLOFnQN2xeV!665720404?id=03181945560-59&pdf=true https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultatio...
  - estaseuropano 5y ago
    50000 staff, a dozen different institutions... Really not a high number.
    - dathinab 5y ago
      I don't think the meetings with the staff are a thing or are reported on. But I could be wrong.
    - belter 5y ago
      They are not meeting with the commissioner for fishing so this is not to be divided equally between all departments :-) This represents a meeting every week, for 5 years in a row. There are 27 EU countries, and approximately 25 million active enterprises in the EU. Not all these companies are of the same size but for large companies you have more than 25,000. That is a large footprint. Are these EU officers able to cope with all that and still provide so much attention to a few companies ? "Lobbyists and Bureaucrats in Brussels: Capitalism’s Brokers" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326878033_Lobbyists_and_Bureaucrats_in_Brussels_Capitalism's_Brokers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326878033_Lobbyists... "...With over 30,000 lobbyists in town, Brussels is often called the European capital of lobbying. Despite this, little is known on how this political system works in practice. This book offers an unprecedented window into the everyday relationships between bureaucrats and interest representatives. Where the media only shows lobbyists as they meet MEPs and submit amendments, the book argues that the bulk of their work is done in close contact with EU bureaucrats - a form of 'quiet politics' developed by the business community, targeting officials with little public exposure..."
- estaseuropano 5y ago
  Are you referring to the EU or or an individual European country? I'd be curious what concretely you are comparing as from all I've ever seen and read the US always came off as 'here you can buy laws' while e.g. EU has extensive scrutiny and consultation procedures and policy is very consensus driven.
  - belter 5y ago
    I am commenting and contrasting on Lobbying activities and their lack regulation in Europe and particularity in the European Union. If we discuss corruption in general, frankly, in Europe, the revolving door between business and government is even higher. Most countries are the size of a small US state.
fakesheriff 5y ago
> In the US the way to influence politics is campaign contributions to politicians. I mean, the US has a ton of industry funded "think tanks" that are effectively unregistered lobbyists. If they spend >50% of their time lobbying, they have to register. Some probably cross that line and don't register. Spending money on lobbying makes a lot of noise, but donating to a "think tank" can be stealthy. It could be interesting to scrape / crowd-source the public calendars of house/senate committee members and agency commissioners to identify these orgs and the scale of their lobbying activities. The results might surprise you.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  Think tanks don't lobby at all. What they do is design favorable conclusions for their backers, and the studies and press releases to dishonestly back those conclusions up and to generate pithy quotes. The politicians that are then lobbied by those backers now have something to say when interviewed about their political activities in favor of who is being lobbied for. Politicians need a media strategy in order to do the things that they're paid to do by private interests, and think tanks provide that strategy.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

PoignardAzur 5y ago

Also most european countries have campaign budget limitations, so campaign contributions don't have that much weight to begin with.

belter 5y ago

Lobbying in general is way more corrupt in Europe than in US. In the US the fact that professional lobbyists exist, puts pressure on non official operations and makes it easier to track registered lobbyists. This does not make US based activities less censurable, but in Europe the current model is one of voluntary registration. Google based lobbying actions in the European Union are no less intense: 249 meetings! Its amazing how much time EU officials seem to have. https://www.integritywatch.eu/organizations https://www.integritywatch.eu/organizations From their results looks like Google is not getting back their money worth...

dathinab 5y ago
Just to be clear I'm not saying it's not a problem, but: > 249 meetings! The parliament alone has more then 700 members, idk. if 249 for one of the largest tech companies is really that bad. The problem are less the number of meetings but a lot of other things around it.
- belter 5y ago
  Make that actually 260 meetings....sometimes 12 times with the same persons. Full PDF List here: https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultation/displaylobbyist.do;TRPUBLIC-ID-prod=wtcEHkTzIZ1Lhj_I-rxrHywzRl7GYqDX9aAd-LdUBNLOFnQN2xeV!665720404?id=03181945560-59&pdf=true https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/public/consultatio...
- estaseuropano 5y ago
  50000 staff, a dozen different institutions... Really not a high number.
  - dathinab 5y ago
    I don't think the meetings with the staff are a thing or are reported on. But I could be wrong.
  - belter 5y ago
    They are not meeting with the commissioner for fishing so this is not to be divided equally between all departments :-) This represents a meeting every week, for 5 years in a row. There are 27 EU countries, and approximately 25 million active enterprises in the EU. Not all these companies are of the same size but for large companies you have more than 25,000. That is a large footprint. Are these EU officers able to cope with all that and still provide so much attention to a few companies ? "Lobbyists and Bureaucrats in Brussels: Capitalism’s Brokers" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326878033_Lobbyists_and_Bureaucrats_in_Brussels_Capitalism's_Brokers https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326878033_Lobbyists... "...With over 30,000 lobbyists in town, Brussels is often called the European capital of lobbying. Despite this, little is known on how this political system works in practice. This book offers an unprecedented window into the everyday relationships between bureaucrats and interest representatives. Where the media only shows lobbyists as they meet MEPs and submit amendments, the book argues that the bulk of their work is done in close contact with EU bureaucrats - a form of 'quiet politics' developed by the business community, targeting officials with little public exposure..."
estaseuropano 5y ago
Are you referring to the EU or or an individual European country? I'd be curious what concretely you are comparing as from all I've ever seen and read the US always came off as 'here you can buy laws' while e.g. EU has extensive scrutiny and consultation procedures and policy is very consensus driven.
- belter 5y ago
  I am commenting and contrasting on Lobbying activities and their lack regulation in Europe and particularity in the European Union. If we discuss corruption in general, frankly, in Europe, the revolving door between business and government is even higher. Most countries are the size of a small US state.

fakesheriff 5y ago

> In the US the way to influence politics is campaign contributions to politicians. I mean, the US has a ton of industry funded "think tanks" that are effectively unregistered lobbyists. If they spend >50% of their time lobbying, they have to register. Some probably cross that line and don't register. Spending money on lobbying makes a lot of noise, but donating to a "think tank" can be stealthy. It could be interesting to scrape / crowd-source the public calendars of house/senate committee members and agency commissioners to identify these orgs and the scale of their lobbying activities. The results might surprise you.

pessimizer 5y ago
Think tanks don't lobby at all. What they do is design favorable conclusions for their backers, and the studies and press releases to dishonestly back those conclusions up and to generate pithy quotes. The politicians that are then lobbied by those backers now have something to say when interviewed about their political activities in favor of who is being lobbied for. Politicians need a media strategy in order to do the things that they're paid to do by private interests, and think tanks provide that strategy.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]