Lobbying in the European Union and Czech Republic

The paper deals with lobbying in the EU and CR. The starting point is the selected definitions of lobbying and lobbying efforts to integrate into the broader context of promoting economic interests in society. The text therefore considers the criteria for defining lobbying, the defining of the environment for lobbying and the role of interest groups and tries to map the relevant literature on the topic. When you defi ne the issues of lobbying in the EU, the emphasis is on structural differences between the EU in terms of influence and being influenced and the bureaucratic apparatus throughout the countries. For various interest groups operating in the European political market is important to know the position of the EU institutions to lobbying and their willingness to create binding standards of behaviour and conduct (codes), as well as the need to define the line between lobbying and corruption. The text also deals with the assessment and measurement capabilities of different forms and methods of lobbing; it compares the direct and indirect data of the EU-15, the CR and the new EU Member States which regulate lobbying (unlike the CR).

Keywords: corruption, institutional quality, interests, lobbying, the EU, codes