10/15/2005

lobbying the European Union

I have been interested in lobbying and the European Union, since I first visited Brussels in 2001. Back then I was working on a comparison between regionalisation processes in different member states of the European Union (Italy, Spain, UK) in the course of a seminar. The seminar was taught by the head of the “Vertretung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen bei der Europäischen Union”, the regional representation office of my home state in Germany. During a visit in Brussels the instructor gave a talk about the political system of the EU and the importance of knowing the right people in Brussels. I remember being fascinated by both aspects, the institutional complexity of that political system and the importance of the human factor in such a multilingual environment.
Several years later, after I graduated, I found myself working in the “Landesvertretung” as an intern. As it turns out, all that glistens isn’t gold but the subject is even more fascinating…

http://www.europa.nrw.de/