Agapov I.O. Lobbying and lobbyists in Europe: certain theoretical and practical issues

Abstract: The subject of this research is the examination of works of the European authors dedicated to the activity of various groups of interests that actively interact with the institutions of the European Union. In addition to that, the article presents an interesting statistical data which reflects the attitude of the European officials towards the lobbying and the lobbyists. The strive of the lobbyist structures for the increase of transparency of the process of state decision-making on the level of Community is being demonstrated. The author determines and analyses the ways that are currently being used by the European legislator for the legal regulation of the lobbyist relations. Based on the examination of a vast amount of empirical material, the author presents the maximally precise and full data about the currently functioning in Europe lobbyist organizations, as well as about the character and level of their impact upon the EU authorities. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that despite the seemingly detailed regulation of public relations in the area of interaction of the EU institutions with the representatives  of the European Parliament and European Commission, many problems associated with the lobbying are yet to be resolved. Such problems carry not just a legal-technical character, but also ontological. Conducting an in-depth analysis, the author reveals the substantial and conceptual difficulties, which were faced by the European legislator in determination of the nature and essence of lobbying, its objective-subjective structure, content, functional role, etc.

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