10 common ways to embrace defeat

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10 too common ways lobbyists embrace political defeat in Brussels.

 

  1. Go to the Commission for the first time the week the College is about to adopt, preferably on a Tuesday.
  2. Meet the rapporteur and shadows for the first time on the day the report is going to be voted.
  3. Send 44-page position papers.
  4. Send long angry letters to officials in the Commission, national officials and MEPs with no solutions.
  5. Turn up after the real decisions have been taken.
  6. Realise there is an issue the day before a key vote, and write to the  Commission etc the evening of the day before.
  7. Send someone to meetings whose default approach to communication is righteous indignation.
  8. Demonstrate modern-day amnesia,  do not realise you are being targeted in a proposal, and ignore the public consultation process. Don’t bring relevant data, information and studies to the table.
  9. Break the rules of the game, e.g. lobby the RSB, lobby the RAC/SEAC.
  10. Pin your hopes on the political fringe or those whose support has usually guaranteed political defeat.