LOBBYING REGULATION IN THE EU

Lobbying appears and develops as an essential component of the relation between decision-makers and interest groups - it is an expression of the citizens' fundamental right to express and group themselves for achieving common goals. In our context, the goal is influencing legislation by the stakeholders. Today, EU lobbying, which is extremely active, is more and more structured, institutionalized and regulated. Politicians, public officials need legitimacy, expertise, partnerships and coalitions, assistance for implementing public policies, whereas interest groups themselves need access to information about the newly proposed public policies as well as access to decision-makers for providing them with expertise aiming to influence political decisions. In the present article, the author proposes an analysis of the EU policy making given the fact that the dialogues and partnerships established between decision-makers and different interest groups are essential for leading to a mature, responsible and efficient decision-making process.