Lobbying and interest groups play a crucial role in the decision making processes of the EU. Policy-making has largely relied on the information provided by actors from different institutions and interest groups, upon which collaboration and competition over influence occurs. These various actors from private and public interest groups can influence decision-making, through formal consultation or as sources of information, expertise and mediation between other institutional actors.

Source: WEF Global Risks Report 2016

Lower oil prices will have enormous economic and political consequences that will be felt globally in a variety of ways. For oil consumers, lower prices are akin to a tax cut. This will allow them to do a combination of the following: increase savings, pay down debt and increase consumption. In most countries, consumers will gravitate towards spending more. The biggest beneficiaries will be the countries with no significant oil resources of their own, such as the nations of Eastern Europe, and some Asian economies, including India, South Korea and Japan.

Internal Decision-Making

Efficient internal decision-making is a prerequisite to achieve favourable policy outcomes. Most associations are aware of the need for swift and efficient internal processes.

The outlook for oil prices remains very gloomy. OPEC will keep its output at 32 million b/d for the time being and Iran is expected to be increasing its exports in the next few months. Some are now saying that it will take two years to eliminate the excess crude stockpiles after supply and demand are brought back into balance.

One of the primary features of Problem-Based Learning is that it is student-centered.  Student-centered refers to learning opportunities that are relevant to the students, the goals of which are at least partly determined by the students themselves. This does not mean that the teacher abdicates his authority for making judgments regarding what might be important for students to learn; rather, this feature places partial and explicit responsibility on the students shoulders for their own learning. Creating assignments and activities that require student input presumably also increases the li

Advocacy might simply be defined as the act of publicly representing an individual, an organization or an idea with the object of persuading targeted audiences to look favourably on or accept the point of the view of the individual, the organization or the idea.

The government-relations consulting trade is intensely competitive with many consulting companies. There are dozens of consultancies in Brussels alone  chasing the same potential business.

The AALEP Certified Public Policy Advocacy Programme will be a standard for certifying individuals who are government relations professionals. The certification will mean that the “Certified Public Policy Advocate” possesses in-depth knowledge of legislative, executive and regulatory procedures along with the rules, regulations and ethical standards to which all Public Policy Advocates must adhere at EU level.

Value of the Certification Programme

There are several potential of subject matters that are relevant to the development and maintenance of an organization's enhanced capacity to deal effectively with government. Collectively, they could form the basis of a body of trainig seminars, workshops and in some cases whole courses of professional development in public policy advocacy. 

The particular range of subject matter is premised on the following: