What if there was a way as way to nearly guarantee that the European Commission proposed a law you wanted. If the odds of that proposed being tabled was around 95%. And, as you’ll know, once the Commission have tabled the draft law, it has even higher odds of being adopted.
The Daily Mail would go into clear melt down.
A Sure Thing
But, there is a way. And, it is all public.
The European Commission’s REFIT Platform (see here) put forward 22 Opinion this year. 21 were taken up by the Commission in their 25 October 2016 Work Programme for 2017. It would have been 22 out of 22, but the Member States had recently rejected something similar to the one Opinion.
How can you get your Opinion adopted
There is a catch here. The Opinions that are taken up are very good submissions. There is no channeling of Ayn Rand on amphetamines, no frothing at the mouth for deregulation, and no howling at the winds for imagined unfairness.
Instead, what does work? That is easy. Analytical and considered submissions, that identify a problem clearly, shows how for example different pieces of EU regulation produces mutually contradictory results and unnecessary duplication. Showing that there will be no negative public health, environmental or public good impacts is key. Evidence is vital, so a focus on several practical real life examples is ideal. No-one starts legislating on the back of hypothetical or imagined problems. Identifying solutions rounds of the case.
Hard Work
This is also a lot of hard and a relatively hard slog work. It likely requires looking at the issue not only from your own perspective, but also from the perspectives of others, and answering their questions and concerns convincingly in advance. But, a sure thing is never that easy.
A 95% strike rate in anything is pretty amazing. Getting 95% of your proposals taken up the Commission and tabled is more than amazing. The numbers are so good, I am sure only a few people will ever bother putting in the hard work needed to get that good.