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The State of Public Affairs
2008
ECPA Conference 5th March 2008
www.comres.eu.com
About the survey:
• 140 respondents took part online between Feb-Mar 2008• thanks to our partners EPAD and EurActiv• filters to verify sample relevance• this year’s sample is more experienced than last year• broad spread across consultancies, in-house corporate, NGOs and trade associations
PA is just as likely to be an independent function as it is to be part of wider team
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
An independent function Part of a broadercommunications team
2007-8 was a good year for budgets
Net balance increase past 12 months
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2008-9 is expected to show a modest decline in growth
Net balance expecting increase
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Measurement remains a struggle
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Yes
No
For the first time, more agree than disagree that “on the whole, the process of policy development within EU institutions is sufficiently transparent”
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
agree/strongly disagree/strongly no opinion
2005
2006
2007
2008
The Council remains perceived as opaque
Decision making is 'very/fairly transparent'
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Commission Council Mins EP
2005
2006
2007
2008
Council is also regarded as inaccessible to lobbyists
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
EuropeanCommission
Council ofMinisters
EuropeanParliament
Accessible
Inaccessible
Commission seen as more balanced in its treatment of business/civil society than in previous years
European Commission
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2005 2006 2007 2008
More likely to be persuaded bybusiness
More likely to be persuaded bycivil society
Entirely impartial to both
Council is also perceived to be less partial
Council of Ministers
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2005 2006 2007 2008
More likely to be persuaded bybusiness
More likely to be persuaded by civilsociety
Entirely impartial to both
But Parliament is still seen strongly as biased in favour of civil society
European Parliament
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2005 2006 2007
More likely to be persuaded bybusiness
More likely to be persuaded bycivil society
Entirely impartial to both
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
2005 2006 2007 2008
Corp lobby groups toopowerful
Lobbyist self-regulation successful
NGOs have too littleinfluence
Need for NGOalliances accepted
Consistent view that corporate lobby groups are not too powerful, and NGOs are not too weak
Parliament is expected to continue to grow in strength “over next few years”
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2005 2006 2007 2008
Commission
Council Mins
EP
Evidence that PA is spreading out, especially to EU agencies
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The EuropeanEconomic and
Social Committee
The Committee ofRegions
The EuropeanCourt
The Court ofAuditors
EU Agencies
Average number of hours committed to:
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Comitology High Level Groupssponsored by the
European Commission
Platforms sponsored bythe European Commission
Treaty of Lisbon would be broadly welcomed
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Yes No No opinion
And most practitioners are “fairly confident” they understand the impact of Lisbon on EU institutional process
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very confident Fairly confident Fairly unconfident Very unconfident
“Have you personally used any of the following as public affairs tools?”
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Blogs orBlogging
YouTube Wikipedia Socialnetworking sites(eg. Facebook
etc.)
2007
2008
“Do you know anyone who has used these public affairs tools?”
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Blogs or Blogging Wikipedia MySpace/SocialNetworking
YouTube
2007
2008
The media remains well used but with caution
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Media more widelyused than 5 yrs ago
Policy makers resentuse of media to
influence decisions
Using media can bedangerous
J ournalistssensationalise rather
than report issues
2005
2006
2007
2008
Trade associations are generally well regarded
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
T.A.s areneeded to
ensureconsistencyin corporate
positions
T.A.s toooften drivelobbyingdown tolowest
commondenominator
T.A.s are agreat source
of infogathering &
sharing
T.A.s tend tobe less
effective thancorporates
T.A.s oftenoverlap and
are toobureaucratic
Companiesdon't investenough time& money intheir T.A.s
Agree
Disagree
Climate change eclipses all other issues
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Climatechange
Sustainability Energy Globalisation CSR Employeeconditions
Charitygiving
Past 12 months
Next 12 months
Trust “a great deal”
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
2006
2007
2008
Trust “not at all”
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
2006
2007
2008
Overall standards of integrity in EU lobbying are on the up
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
2005 2006 2007 2008
Improved
Remained same
Deteriorated
Regulation of EU lobbyists remains perceived as appropriate
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2005 2006 2007 2008
Too strong
About right
Too weak
“Lobbyists should only have to register once for a system that covers all EU institutions”
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Agree strongly Agree Disagree Disagreestrongly
No opinion
Proportion of PA work engaged in lobbying with decision makers:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
0-10% 11-20%
21-30%
31-40%
41-50%
51-60%
61-70%
71-80%
81-90%
91-100%
Would your organisation be prepared to declare its expenditure on:
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Lobbying Public affairs other thanlobbying
Per
cent
age
Yes
No
Acceptable metrics for measuring PA & lobbying engagement in context of registration proposals:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Man hours Disclosure withinbands of 100,000
euros
No financialdisclosure
Detailed financialdisclosure
Should registration be:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Mandatory Voluntary No opinion
The Kallas proposal for a register of lobbyists:
Source: ComRes survey of 119 MEPs, summer 2007
Thank you to all who took part!
FULL TABLES AT www.comres.eu.com
