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I went to the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) conference in Brighton last yr (above) and I’m going to this yr’s occasion in Telford in June. So I thought I’d provide some thoughts on the benefits to other registrars of coming alongside as nicely.
Invaluable. EPHA monitor the coverage process for each certainly one of their campaign areas and engage at every attainable point. They attend every meeting on the European Parliament and the European Commission on these areas and make oral contributions at every alternative; they submit comprehensive written responses to each relevant consultation; they interact every day with journalists to publicise their positions and construct public assist; they interact like-minded actors within the public, private, and never-for-profit sectors on a case-by-case foundation to coordinate action; and they do all of this with only a handful of relatively young staff and interns.
Civil society pockets will not be deep sufficient to come back near matching this (or the salaries of lobbyists), and civil society advocacy and pressure teams are few and far between. Transparency falls wanting the perfect, and the revolving door between coverage-making and industry remains alive and well. Most lately the former President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso was appointed Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, a move that has been broadly criticised.