Did you know that the EU bubble has a lobby… for lobbyists?
26 March 2025
In Brussels, lobbying is so big that lobbyists have their own lobby. There are real organisations like EPACA and SEAP that exist solely to represent and regulate lobbyists themselves. Their existence says a lot about how far the influence industry has come: lobbying in Brussels is no longer a shadowy backroom activity but a fully institutionalised profession, complete with ethics codes, self-regulation panels, and trade associations advocating for their interests.
Brussels is home to an estimated 25,000 lobbyists, making it second only to Washington D.C., in lobbyist density. Over 13,600 entities are registered in the EU Transparency Register, and spending is booming. Big Tech alone shells out over €113 million per year to influence EU legislation, followed closely by finance, energy, and pharma.
This isn't just noise – these millions translate into real access. Well-funded lobbies regularly secure high-level meetings with European Commissioners, draft policy input, and shape legislative proposals long before the public hears about them. The top 160 lobbying organisations spend over €340 million annually and heavily influence the EU's most important digital, climate, and financial laws.
 | Leticia Batista Cabanas Why does all of this matter? The rules that govern everything from your digital privacy to your gas bill or access to affordable medicine are shaped, in part, by these interest groups. Whether it's Big Tech fighting platform regulations, banks weighing in on financial reforms, or fossil fuel firms lobbying around climate targets, the reach of lobbying has a direct impact on everyday life in the EU. Ironically, the push for transparency in all of this has been led, in part, by the lobbyists themselves. EPACA and SEAP helped shape the EU's lobbying rules, including the now-mandatory Transparency Register and the official lobbyist Code of Conduct. |
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