The importance of lobbying for nuclear power inside the European institutions

During January 8-9, 2008, in Brussels, the European Atomic Forum, FORATOM organized a workshop entitled "Insight into the EU Nuclear Lobbying",which attracted political experts, members of the European Parliament, European Commission and representatives of the European Nuclear industry associations.

The main purpose in organizing the workshop was FORATOM's major interest in promoting nuclear energy at the European level, and highlighting the crucial role that efficient lobbying inside the EU's institutions can play in improving the nuclear's image. The first edition of this workshop underlined, throgh the main topics, the dynamic approach of lobbying techniques and enabled a deeper understanding of the European institutions, their background, structure and working methodology. Special guests highlighted the impact of the EU enlargement and the challenges it brings, as well as the energy sector and the Euratom Treaty that is the basis of the European Union. The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the lobbying and communications techniques that can help get an efficient message across, (structure and methodology of a lobbying campaign, roles and qualities of a lobbyist).

FORATOM's approach the lobbying and its main targets were also addressed. Members of the European Commission and European Parliament participated in this training event and mentioned the very solid network that had been lately established by FORATOM and how they perceive the future collaboration, stressing the necessity for an active and constant process in order to influence the legislative decision making procedure in favor of nuclear energy. The two-day training event, organized by FORATOM, proved to be extremely atractive and complex due to the high level of participants, whose presentations included methods of approaching and promoting the nuclear, underlining the way in which these must be applied, and emphasizing the perfect time to interact with the political process. The participants declared themselves fully satisfied with the manner in which FORATOM got involved in organizing the workshop, and the result was a proposal to hold similar events every year.