Lobbying in Romania – research results release

For a long time, in Romania there was no research on lobbying. Each public speach would refer to what people want or see lobbying and each lobbyist would strongly affirm that there is not much lobbying undergone in this country. However, some questions arise:

• Do all these assumptions have any support in reality?
• Do people make the distinction between lobby and traffic of influence?
• Which are the most efficient lobbying tools?
• How many actors are there lobbying?

This is why a research was needed and answers are given – you may download:

• “Lobbying in Romania” 2012 – the English version
• “Lobby în România” 2012 – versiunea în limba română

 

Why do most companies fail on cutting costs?

Companies are cutting costs all over the world but only a few say their cost-cutting programs were successful over a three years period.

Why did they fail? You may find some answers in the article bellow (Romanian only):

Online: www.zf.ro

Aristotle and economy

Almost 90% of worldwide executives made cost cuts during 2009, a percentage that is not surprising at all considering the economic downturn. However, according to PwC’s “2010 Global CEOs Survey”, almost 80% of executives realised that they need long term results, not just short term liquidity.

What does this have to do with Aristotle? You may find the answer in the article bellow published in the last issue of “Capital” (Romanian only):

Online: Capital.ro

Lobbyists are taking a chance on self regulation

Last year I published an article in Forbes where I stated that the next step lobbyists are going to take in Romania, in order to avoid a lobbying law, will be to announce a self regulation initiative. Recently, during a conference dedicated to assessing the opportunity of a lobbying law in Romania, one of the lobbyists publicly announced that a voluntary registry of lobbying activities is going to be open by lobbyists themselves.

How will this make lobbying more transparent and why do lobbyists prefer self regulation instead of a law with similar conditions?

Possible answers below (Romanian only):
Forbes Romania No. 26, 8-21 March 2010

International fraud, corruption and the economic crisis: what connection is there between defence contracts, banks, USA, Tanzania and Romania?

A possible answer may be found in the article bellow which I wrote for the last issue of Forbes. The article aims to look for reasons of the sharp raise in international corruption cases compared to the global downturn trail. References are made to SFO’s investigation of British Aerospace (BAE) as well as several corruption surveys and FCPA analysis.

PDF version available at the link bellow (Romanian version only):
“International fraud, corruption and the economic crisis”, Forbes Romania Nr. 24, 8-19 February 2010, 80-81

Who benefits of lobbying self regulation?

Romanian readers may find useful the following resource on the subject of lobbying:
www.reglementare-lobby.ro

Commissioner Siim Kallas announced considers as a great success the fact that 2,100 lobbyists voluntarily registered themselves in the EC’s “Register of interest groups”. Is this the case?

A possible answer as well as an analysis of what lobbyists self regulation may bring to improving transparency in Romania can be found in an article I wrote for Forbes Romania (available in Romanian only):
“Who benefits of lobbying self regulation?”, Forbes Romania No. 20, 14-27 December 2009

Forbes: Demystifying lobbying, a required amendment for a moral injustice

Romanian readers may find useful the following resource on the subject of lobbying:
www.reglementare-lobby.ro

Forbes Romania published one of my articles on lobbying. Following the results of Rywin’s case in Poland, I focused on stating the difference between lobbying and traffic of influence and the necessity of lobby regulation in Romania.

You may read the article, in Romanian, in PDF format:
“Demystifying lobbying, a required amendment for a moral injustice”, Forbes Romania, No. 18, 16-28 November 2009

Book launching: “Lobby regulation. Inside the antechambre of influence”

C.H. Beck Publishing has the pleasure to invite you on November 11, 2009 to the launching event of the book “Lobby regulation. Inside the antechambre of influence” written by Liviu Mihaileanu and Aurelian Horja. The event will take place at the Law Faculty of Bucharest University (36-46 Kogalniceanu Blvd., Bucharest).

Besides defining the lobby activities and presenting lobbying tactics and tools, the book clarifies aspects such as the difference between lobby and trafic of influence and makes a comparative analysis of lobby regulation in USA, the European Union and EU member states.

For more information, please visit: www.reglementare-lobby.ro

How do we measure success? Is short-term performance an appropriate solution?

Ziarul Financiar published today one of my articles in which I asked myself these two questions. The article’s conclusion is that short-term performance is no longer a good way of measuring success and it should be measured in decades instead of quarters.

Regarding the current economic context, I underlined the fact that the USD 50 trillion contraction of global assets between September 2007 and March 2009 shows than many companies took excessive risks and used unrealistic expectations.

You may find a PDF copy (Romanian version only) at:
“Cum măsurăm succesul”, Ziarul Financiar, 2 Septembrie 2009

or you may read it online at:
http://www.zf.ro/

Analysis of lobby regulation in Romania, the European Union and the United States of America

Romanian readers may find useful the following resource on the subject of lobbying:
www.reglementare-lobby.ro

Debates on lobby regulation uncover a significant issue of the Romanian public law system as identifying its characteristics at international and Romanian level are an essential step in building the arguments of future regulations.

In this article, I aimed to perform a comparative analysis of lobby regulation characteristics in the European parliamentary systems (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom), the European Union and the United Stated of America against previous Romanian regulation endeavours. Also, the article underlines the necessity of lobby regulation to comply with national fundamental rights.

You may find bellow a PDF copy of the article (Romanian version with English abstract):
“Analysis of lobby regulation in Romania, the European Union and the United States of America,” The Public Law Journal No. 1(35), Institute of Administrative Sciences, Bucharest, January-March 2009, 98-107