I am researching the question of lobbying in Europe for the purposes of a paper I am writing for school. I would like to ask the following questions:

Who do you think lobbyist in Europe are?
What do you think they do?
How do they influence the European agenda setting process?Do they really rewrite the European laws?
What are the negative aspects of lobbying?
Are there any positive aspects?

Thank you for your cooperation!

Maybe an interesting link exposing some malicious practices:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/110407/european-parliament-lobbying-scandal

Being honest it is a subject that I know very little about, so all I'm saying in this post is based only on 'feelings' and conjecture. Nevertheless, here I go.

- Who lobbyists are. I imagine they are pressure groups who feel passionately on just about any given subject. People who, in organised groups, go to Brussels and speak for/against a certain topic. However, I think that 'unoffical' lobbyists are prevalent as well, for instance elected officials speaking for a subject.

- Hopefully, all they do is talk and try to persuade. Hopefully, they don't bribe, but I get the feeling lobby groups aren't always a friendly lot.

- I don't think 'they' rewrite laws, but I do think they have a heavy influence on setting the agenda, either by lobbying to the people in parliament, or by going external and 'whipping up a crowd' if you will, to which parliament then responds.

- Lobby groups are often depicted as a shady bunch, who sometimes have far too much power to push through legislation which might not always be for the benefit of the people. Often lobby groups are depicted as lobbying for the financial gain of coorporations.

- On the other hand, there are also 'good' lobby groups who do lobby for the safety/betterment of lives of the public.

Q1 Lobbyists in Europe are: Either hired lobbyists or lobbyists of multinationals and other large institutions themselves. NGOs, who often exist of various NGOs across Europe and together try to achieve something. And national governments who try to influence decission making.

Q2 They lobby, by providing arguments what politicians can use in their reasoning. Of course in the advantage of the lobbyist's employer.

Q3 They do have influence on European law. Otherwise the city of Bruxelles wouldn't be filled with thousands of lobbyists I think. If they decide the European agenda setting process? I think not. I think the PR departments and media take care of that.

Q4 The lobbying activities should be more transparent. I find it very negative that media pay no attention towards the European decission making process. Anyways, the lobbyist always lobby for their own good. It's definetely not in the advantage of the many, which basically harms our democracy.

Q5 On the other hand if there are enough interest groups involved, like NGOs defending the 'people's voice', then there could be a balance between social and economical developments in European law making. I also think politicians still have their own moral responsibility, which cannot always be influenced that easily.