MODERN PRINCIPLES OF FUNCTIONING OF THE INSTITUTE OF LOBBYING IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

The article analyzes the experience of the institute of lobbying in European countries. The author argues that lobbying should be defined as the process of action of stakeholders to overcome legislative, administrative, law enforcement barriers or public interest in a particular issue in order to realize their own interests through influence on public authorities, local governments, officials for achieving the desired result. It is noted that in the UK: first, the requirements for ethical conduct of civil servants and members of Parliament are clearly defined; secondly, restrictions have been imposed on members of parliament and civil servants in communicating with influence groups; thirdly, a detailed register of the financial interests of members of parliament is regulated, which contains detailed information on all agreements concluded with consultants, representatives of law firms and lobbying organizations; fourth, there is the Register of Interparty Groups; fifthly, a list of journalists' interests is maintained, in which a journalist with access to Parliament is required to indicate all financial income in excess of £ 575 per year for activities related to his / her stay in Parliament. Thus, the issue of lobbying has been settled in the United Kingdom.
The analysis of the experience of the development of the institute of lobbying in Austria gives grounds to note that, firstly, lobbying is regulated in the form of social partnership; secondly, there is a register of lobbyists formed by the Ministry of Justice; Thirdly. the register is publicly available; fourth, lobbyists must adhere to a code of conduct for lobbyists.
The shortcomings of the French approach are the prohibition of lobbying in the legislature and the emergence of problems related to the formation of the Socio-Economic Council, ensuring equal representation of different professional groups. However, the existing restrictions do not prevent specially created organizations to act as intermediaries to promote different interests in public authorities.
The author singles out four main functions of lobbyists in the EU: the service function, ie the provision of specific (and often exclusive) services to its members (eg information gathering); lobbying function, namely influencing external decision-making (for example, meetings with officials or participation in public hearings); influence on decision-making, namely attempts to influence decisions from within (for example, direct participation in the decision-making process of expert commissions during the selection of draft works and proposals); implementation function, ie participation in the implementation of the policy (for example, the capture of management functions in the implementation program).