votes: Amsterdam Athinai Berlin Bratislava Bruxelles Bucureşti Budapest Dublin Helsingfors Kobenhavn Lefkosia Lisboa Ljubljana London Luxembourg Madrid Paris Praha Rïga Roma Sofia Stockholm Tallinn Valletta Vi 100 lnius Warszawa Wien st Photo Archive Daniel Guéguen deals with European Affairs since 1975 He was a director of some of the most important European associations and has created his own company CLAN Public Affairs in 1996 At the same time Daniel is the president of the European Training Institute and director of the consulting company EBAQUE SA which has also opened its offi ce in the Czech Republic a media expert editorial writer author and publisher and lecturer During his 35 year career Daniel has developed a signifi cant network in Brussels and has a deep political and fi nancial knowledge He wrote several books about the European Union among others the Practical Guide to the EU Labyrinth and European Lobbying both having been translated in 20 foreign languages including Czech CZECH REPUBLIC SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY SARKOZY COMPLEX
Amsterdam Athinai Berlin Bratislava Bruxelles Bucureşti Budapest Dublin Helsingfors Kobenhavn Lefkosia Lisboa Ljubljana London Luxembourg Madrid Paris Praha Rïga Roma Sofia Stockholm Tallinn Valletta Vilnius Warszawa Wien 101 Dear Daniel you are known as very heavy weight lobbyist Could you please explain us what the word lobbying means in relation to the Czech Republic or to whole European policy making process You probably know that almost 75 of Czech laws are coming from Brussels so the art of the power is in Brussels And this is why the lobbying on European level is so important Therefore lobbying is very welcomed in Brussels as it is part of the decision making process The Commission the European Parliament the Council of the EU they have the power therefore it is very productive to lobby them Power needs productivity and this is why the lobbying is so important In Brussels the influence of lobbying can be extremely big we can change not only a sentence in a text but full orientation of the text sometimes But to be honest lot of people think especially in the Czech Republic that lobbying is a very negative practice full of corruption Is it right Not at all It is not a job based on corruption or manipulation Lobbying in Brussels is a job based on expertise competencies and credibility Do you think that small members of the EU like the Czech Republic can be effective in lobbying at the whole European scene Sometimes I have the feeling that the new Member States and you are one of the very well developed Member States are too shy when they lobby I think it is a mistake You are full members of the EU you are not second category of members so you do not have to be shy And I am pleased to see that the Czech Republic has now some permanent lobbyists in Brussels in particular CEBRE Czech Business Representation CEBRE has a permanent office in Brussels represented by two young and very competent permanent staff which is very good But there are many more good Czech permanent lobbyists and consultants in Brussels some of them working closely with me We have even opened an office in the Czech Republic In January the Czech Republic started its first Presidency of the Council of the EU What is your evaluation so far I should like to tell you how a foreigner like me sees the Presidency First of all I think it is a great opportunity for the Czech Republic But again do not be shy You are full member of the EU and you are a full chairman There had been some fears of the Czech Presidency before it has started Especially Nicolas Sarkozy the President of France was concerned about it And not just him many people didn’t trust that such a small country can manage don’t you think Please do not have any Sarkozy complex or syndrome You have to know that generally the good presidencies are the presidencies coming from smaller countries Belgium has been very good presidency Ireland has been very good presidency Luxembourg has been very good presidency and Slovenia recently was considered as a good presidency too Also you have many topics of the key interest during the Czech Presidency Could you please specify some of the topics you find important The first one is probably the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty The second important topic for me is the climate change energy package For sure I cannot forget the energy package which is a very important dossier in particular with its nuclear implications Could you please tell us more about each of them and specify what effect this will have on the Czech Presidency Talking about the Lisboan treaty you are in the best position to solve this delicate problem because you have not ratified it yourself So probably you are the best placed to understand why the Irish have not ratified also I believe here you have an account to play And if you succeed to solve this question at the beginning of your Presidency it will be a plus for your image in Europe and for your position on the EU scene Let’s get back to the energy package I know that the Czech Republic favours nuclear energy as part of the energy mix and I totally share this point of view You have to know that in Brussels you have some taboo dossiers and nuclear is one taboo dossier in particular I think it is a big mistake and I think you have to open the doors I am convinced that to open the debate it is very essential to put this question in a public and to ask civil society media lobbyists to discuss openly about this strategic question We should not forget the free circulation of workers and services amongst EU countries We have to be clear and again we have to be fair what we want to achieve You are a full member of the EU27 and we have the single market If we have the single market we have to recognize the free movement of workers and free movement of services and here again you have to communicate on that and you have to explain to the French in particular One other very important dossier to manage will be the relations with Russia and the Russia partnership Here again it is very strategic problem and I think you have lot of historical and strategic reasons to be in the heart of this very sensitive topic and an EU negotiator The Czech member of the European Commission is Mr Vladimír Špidla How do you think this helps the Czech Republic during its Presidency That is another very important dossier of key importance of the Czech presidency I think we do not have to go to social deregulation but we have to go towards social harmonisation because we have to bring European economies closer The link with the citizens is absolutely key One of the reasons why the Irish voted NO is because the European citizen is de linked from the construction of Europe We need to add more transparency to the European decision making process and finally I insisted on that so please try to push for the simplification of the process During the last few months it became very popular to discuss the economic crisis from different perspectives What do you think this crisis means for the European economics or for each Member State I think that financial crisis will have even bigger consequences on the EU than we can imagine and we will face huge troubles Financial crisis will be followed by deep recession and this deep recession will generate deep deficits huge debts in some countries like France or Italy in particular but in other countries as well I am afraid it will also create a big divergence of opinion between France and Germany and we see it already today I am afraid that if the economies continue to diverge which is absolutely the case for the moment the Euro itself could be under threat in 2 or 3 years of time At the same time I think all crises have a lot of opportunities especially for companies Do you think in this time of economic crisis it is the right moment for enlargement of the European Union We see clearly that the Commission is pushing for more enlargements They advocate the enlargement for Balkan countries including Albania I have seen in the Parliament that the European Commission was considering Albania as a country to be able to be candidate next year Iceland is now candidate In front of us we have European Union with 34 countries at the medium term horizon But this is not the Union this is a Babel tower And this cannot work Why not to enlarge But we have to think about a certain re foundation of the EU around 3 circles as Jacques Delors proposed 15 years ago A federal heart with limited number of countries with the euro single market approach with the other countries of the EU and very strong neighbourhood policies for Ukraine for Georgia for Mediterranean Daniel let me thank you for your answers I have the last question for you What do you think is the future for the European Union I can tell you my opinion about the future of the European Union What do we have in front of us I think that the main problem of the EU and we see that every day is that we do not have a big joint project And this is the greatest weakness We have the single currency and the single currency is a federal tool and the federal tool needs a political project But we have 10 years of challenges turbulences And your Presidency is at the crossroad of all of that By Michal Kadera CEBRE Czech Business Representation českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz
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