To lobby or not to lobby...

That is the question. Lobbying has such a negative sound, but what it really means? Wikipedia (which now needs your money, btw) tells that it is "a form of advocacy with the intention of influencing decisions made by legislators and officials in the government by individuals, other legislators, constituents, or advocacy groups.”

If lobbying exists anyhow, do we really want to leave this tool to others? It isn't just for big corporations to execute their "evil" plans. Lobbying can also result in society's well-being. Companies, NGOs or nations can provide information and convince decision makers of important topics that will result in good changes.

In small Finland it can be quite easy to know everyone. So in a way there has been no need for professional lobbying. But obviously this is, or at least should be, changing. The boundaries are blurring. We are part of EU and globalization has effects. Someone needs to keep Finnish players in the game.

80% of Finnish answerers see the lack of transparency as the biggest problem in lobbying according to Burson-Marsteller’s survey. So far there are no specific regulations in Finland. The need for such has been in publicity for couple years*. Regulations and transparency could dispel suspicion and help the decision makers too. (* e.g. lobbyist Anders Blom in Helsingin Sanomat: ethical rules might be needed in lobbying,  authors of “Lobbauskirja” & Helsingin Sanomat research showed politicians found regulating advisable in 2007.)

Despite of the complexity of lobbying, it seems that competent Finnish lobbyists are truly needed especially when it comes to EU and Finnish interests. Approximately 15,000 lobbyists seek to influence the EU’s legislative processes in Brussels. Their distribution is roughly as follows:

But even in lobbying Finns have already ”succeeded”. In 2008 a Finnish MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi was voted to win the year’s “Worst Conflict of Interest” title in Worst EU Lobbying Awards…\o/



Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying

http://www.hs.fi/politiikka/artikkeli/Suomalaisviranomaiset+eiv%C3%A4t+luota++kansalaisj%C3%A4rjest%C3%B6jen+lobbaukseen/HS20091012SI3YO033yp

http://www.euractiv.com/en/pa/new-eu-lobbying-rules-cover-national-embassies/article-186880

+ all the article links in the text