• 751 members of the European Parliament;
• The President of the European Commission;
• 27 Commissioners for the member states;
• The President of the European Council, Herman Von Rompuy’s replacement whose mandate comes to an end on 1 December 2014;
• 2 Presidents of the EP for the first and second two and a half years;
• A permanent President of the Eurozone;
• 20 European Parliament Committee Chairs or 22 if you include the two sub-committees in the European Parliament as well;

The development of open democratic procedures in government naturally encourages the emergence and participation of many interest groups, both within and outside of government in public policy decision making.

The EU defines ‘interest representation’ as including all activities carried out with the objective of influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the EU institutions.

The EU Transparency Register clearly states that ‘Think-Tanks and Research Institutions’ dealing with the activities and policies of the European Union must register.

Put simply, a think-tank usually conducts in-depth research into a particular/issue or cause, preferably coming up with some new ideas as well as create specific policy recommendations regarding the issue based on it’s in-depth research, to Government, Business, Trade associations, Unions etc.

What is Moscow’s goal for Ukraine?

Public Policy Advocates are able to exploit the opportunity structure offered by the EU political system and thus participate in the policy making process by offering their expertise on both the procedures and the content of policy and by establishing contacts with decision makers.

Moscow is demanding that Kiev adopt a new constitution that provides for a decentralized model of government to regulate relations between the regions and capital. In practice this would mean the formation of autonomous states within Ukraine, where every region could decide its own budget, laws and governance, without the consent of  the Ukrainian government as as a whole.

The Joint Transparency Register Secretariat points out that in democracies, citizens have the right to freely convey their individual or collective views to decision-makers. They can naturally do so directly themselves, but they can also mandate intermediaries to represent them and advocate on their behalf. Public decision makers it goes to say need themselves a wide exposure and a wide diversity of input to be able to make informed decisions and to deliver appropriate policies matching realities.

By now, it is not only uncontested that assemblies in the Member States should be kept in the loop of the Union’s activities but also that national parliaments dispose of a full repertoire of different instruments to ensure they can play a direct role in the system.

Founded in 1993, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has largely been a one-issue party; working to get Britain out of the EU. UKIP believes that the EU is not only bad for Britain’s economy and prosperity, but it is a system of government that will ultimately prove to be totally unacceptable to the British people. UKIP would replace Britain’s membership of the European Union with a kind of agreement on free trade and co-operation.