Looby activity "does not involve money giving"

Lobby activity does not involve any kind of payment towards the decision makers who must be convinced to stand for certain legislative initiatives, according to the specialists who exclude material stimulus from the lobbyists’ arguments.

Lobby is one of the activities which represent the interests recognized in Europe, together with advocacy. They are both actions that take place on the purpose to influence the development of policy and decision making process with the institutions, as Laura Florea, the President of the Romanian Lobbying Registry Association (RLRA) explains.

The difference between the two would be that advocacy is done for public interest, while lobby is for the private one.

Laura Flores argues that it is constitutional to do lobbying in order to influence legislation.

It is not about bringing in profit and I do not think it is measured exactly this way. It is also legal, by the Law regarding decision transparency.

"When a normative project is elaborated by a government, it is displayed on the site of the issuing institution to be publicly discussed", Laura Florea said.
The RLRA president also says that the public discuss is a lobby activity.

"There are views which groups of interests show them with respect to laws, a fact which is both legal and useful because our decision makers do not live high in the stratosphere but among the people and the laws they take must be for people, for business environment , for everyone who is interested in", Laura Florea also said.

The RLRA president stated that the decision makers receive several arguments and explanations through lobby activity.

"Not only the companies for lobby can do lobbying but also all the groups of interests."

The employer, the unions, the NGOs, the corporation themselves and business association can do lobby themselves or they can employee professional lobby and these are the lobby agents’, Laurea Florea said.

The RLRA president states that when it comes about the money to be provided to the one who must be convinced, then we can no longer speak about lobby but we fall under bribery and traffic of influence

"Those who take decisions must not be paid for the decision they have", Laura Florea said.

Translated by: Cătălina Virvescu

MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University