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Working in the intersection between government and business creates a myriad of complex challenges. Ethics is of course an important issue to discuss with your team and reflect upon. Poor ethics, resulting in a shady morality, have been an increasing problem in the past few decades. But PA and lobbyism today still have an image problem. Movies like “Thank You for Smoking” or hit series like “House of Cards” confirm the stereotype or assumptions about people working in the cross-section between business and politics. Even just using the words, “Public Affairs” or “lobbyism”, at a dinner party or in public, can sometimes call for attacks with accusations such as “corruption” or statements like “Ihr seid doch alle gekaufte lobbyisten” as someone wrote in German on Twitter when promoting this guide, which probably doesn’t need any translation.

As many Public Affairs professionals will know, the PA department can have many different tasks to handle, some which may not even be core for a PA function. This depends of course on the organization, the raison d’être for the PA function and how many people will be working to execute the tasks. However, every good PA department starts with a plan - and in this extract from his book “The Public Affairs Engine” Ulobby CEO Anders Kopp Jensen gives his two cents on the four essential parts of such a PA-plan, continuing with step number 4:

A new year equals new perspectives. 2020 was a very special year for everyone - including for the public affairs industry. But what will 2021 bring for Public Affairs which have significantly proven its value and is in higher demand than before Covid-19. Ulobby CEO Anders Kopp Jensen has given it some thought and here presents 3 trends he believe will characterize Public Affairs in 2021:

As 2020 passed and we entered 2021 filled with hope and excitement, many Europeans believed that the new year would bring progress, a rapidly implemented vaccine programme, an end to the tight restrictions on movement and the return of normal everyday life. But just as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency before Christmas a heated debate ensued on whether or not the EU had secured enough vaccines via its common procurement deals. As it stands now, an effective vaccine roll out looks set to be three months behind those of the US and UK due to different approval mechanisms and procurement processes. In this blog, the Ulobby team will take you through how the EU has managed to become a central player in the Covid-19 vaccine procurement process.

As many Public Affairs professionals will know, the PA department can have many different tasks to handle, some which may not even be core for a PA function. This depends of course on the organization, the raison d’être for the PA function and how many people will be working to execute the tasks. However, every good PA department starts with a plan - and in this extract from his book “The Public Affairs Engine” Ulobby CEO Anders Kopp Jensen gives his two cents on the four essential parts of such a PA-plan, continuing with step number 3:

The year 2020 has undoubtedly been a challenging and unpredictable one for European lawmakers and regulators. It started off with a markedly unprecedented move, as the Commission launched the European Green Deal. The year continued apace with an unprecedented focus on the digitization of the European economy, as Europe quickly came under the shadow of the global Coronavirus pandemic. As 2020 reaches its end, our Ulobby team have looked back on the last 12 months of successes and failures across six major policies and events on the EU stage.

As many Public Affairs professionals will know, the PA department can have many different tasks to handle, some which may not even be core for a PA function. This depends of course on the organization, the raison d’être for the PA function and how many people will be working to execute the tasks. However, every good PA department starts with a plan - and in this extract from his book “The Public Affairs Engine” Ulobby CEO Anders Kopp Jensen gives his two cents on the four essential parts of such a PA-plan, continuing with step number 2:

After more than four years of (at times tense) negotiations between the EU and the UK, there is now less than 20 days until the transition period ends. Brexit is a sheer reality, but the two sides are making little progress in reaching a deal that will characterise the future EU-UK relationship.

As many Public Affairs professionals will know, the PA department can have many different tasks to handle, some which may not even be core for a PA function. This depends of course on the organization, the raison d’être for the PA function and how many people will be wor- king to execute the tasks. However, every good PA department starts with a plan - and in this extract from his book “The Public Affairs Engine” Ulobby CEO Anders Kopp Jensen gives his 2 cents on the four essential parts of such a PA-plan, starting with step number 1:

One of the most significant - and equally overshadowed - agreements from this week was the political outcome of the Eurogroup meeting on Monday. As stories emerged about the so-called iliberal vetoing of the MFF and the chaos and uncertainty that followed, a highly technical agreement broke years of stalemate in negotiations over the European Stability Mechanism and the Banking Union.

It isn’t always easy for a newly appointed public affairs professional to know where to begin the work of expanding the organisation's influence. But Ulobby CEO and experienced PA advisor Anders Kopp Jensen has identified 5 critical focus areas in his new book The Public Affairs Engine. Here we present you with an extract of the book on just that:

After the vetoing of the next 7 year EU budget (MFF) by Hungary and Poland, a new compromise seems unimaginable. But the budget veto is subtended by deep divisions in contemporary EU politics pertaining to core principles and values that could potentially end in a ‘no-deal budget scenario’. Ulobby analyses the most likely outcomes here and explores possible solutions to the budget crisis.