This book provides a practical step-by-step guide for anyone wanting to understand, study, or work with the EU institutions and decision-making. How are EU laws made – and how can their making be influenced at a practical level? And what has been the impact of changes brought about by the Treaty of Lisbon?

The book is designed to provide a comprehensive FOUNDATION TEXT for students, libraries and practitioners alike and is UP-TO-DATE with the range of KEY CHANGES introduced under the Treaty of Lisbon.

Written by a team of EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS, including public affairs professionals, led by Alan Hardacre of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, the book is packed with EASY-TO-FOLLOW figures and diagrams.

Recommended for...
Academic courses on EU institutions and decision-making
Libraries fielding queries on how the EU works
Officials of the EU institutions needing a comprehensive ready reference
EU public affairs professionals
Law firms in the EU arena
NGOs and citizen groups that need to deal with the EU institutions
National and regional governments involved in influencing and implementing EU legislation
Candidates for EPSO exams wanting to improve their knowledge for assessment and interviews

Reviews:

“The Lisbon Treaty created new actors in the institutional landscape, the permanent President of the European Council, the European External Action Service, and strengthened the role of other players, notably the European Parliament as well as national parliaments ... This book comes thus at a very timely moment... A very insightful tool for citizens, political and private actors”.Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission

“This book is very much to be welcomed as a first - a first in the sense of providing a real nuts and bolts approach to how the EU legislative process functions. This is a really practical guide that I can imagine recommending to new interns in my office but more importantly to others wishing either to enter or indeed just understand the world of EU public affairs.”Diana Wallis MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament

SECTION 1 – HOW THE EU INSTITUTIONS WORK
1. The European Commission
2. The Council of the EU and the European Council
3. The European Parliament
4. Other EU Institutions and Bodies

SECTION 2 – HOW EU DECISION-MAKING WORKS
5. The Ordinary Legislative procedure: New Codecision
6. Delegated and Implementing Acts: “New Comitology”

SECTION 3 – HOW TO WORK WITH THE EU INSTITUTIONS & DECISION-MAKING
7. European information sources on the Internet
8. Ethics and Transparency in the EU
9. Practical Guide to Working with the EU Institutions
10. Practical Guide to Working with EU Decision-Making
11. Conclusion – Designing a Successful EU Lobbying Campaign

HARDACRE Alan

Alan Hardacre is the principal author and editor of this book. Alan has been working, in varying capacities, with the EU institutions and EU decision-making for over ten years. Alan is a member of the ‘European Decision-Making’ Unit at the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht. At EIPA Alan lectures, researches, and offers consulting on numerous European issues to a variety of institutional, public and private clients.

Prior to his EIPA role Alan worked as a lobbyist in Brussels from 2004 until 2008, for the British Business Bureau at the Confederation of British Industry. Alan has also worked for Brazilian, Thai and African Business, and UN bodies, on advocacy strategies in the EU.

Alan is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Maastricht and a visiting Professor at the University of Chulalongkorn in Bangkok, where he teaches modules on lobbying in the EU.

Alan holds a BA (Hons) in Modern European Studies from Loughborough University in the UK and a DEA de Science Politique from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Lyon in France. In 2008 he was awarded his PhD in International Economic and Political Relations from Loughborough University.