Conference Matters 141

LOBBYING

As a lobbyist, Milos Labovic knows his way around Brussels and The Hague

'Get to know the EU

before organising an event'

Milos Labovic started as a newcomer but left as one of the most well-known lobbyists that Brus sels has known. From that position, he also wit nessed what conferences and business events can mean in the lobbying process and how they can go wrong. “You can’t make it in Brussels without knowledge.” For almost nine years, Milos Labovic, 43, worked as a lobbyist in Brussels on behalf of the Province of Zeeland, advising governments, parliaments and international development banks. He has now left Brussels and has written two books about it: EU Superlobby (2017), translated from Dutch into English in 2020, and Lobbyist van Zeeland, published in Dutch in early 2023. In Lobbyist van Zeeland, Labovic talks about his introduction to Brussels. He opens up about his lobbying dossiers and speaks candidly about his successes and failures. The book provides a uni que insight into what it’s like to fight for a small Dutch province in the capital of Europe, where he rose to the top echelons of the EU bubble. “When I made the move to Brussels in 2007, I was an insecure and inexperienced lobbyist. However, I was eager to learn, and I learned a lot.” By Sjoerd Geurts Photo: Thomas Fasting

Nevertheless, Labovic decided to leave Brus sels in 2017 to become an EU Specialist for the Dutch House of Representatives and Senior Government Accounts & Public Affairs at the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank. He has been working for more than three years as Senior Public Affairs for Vervoerregio Amster dam, where he lobbies for national attention and associated resources for large infrastructure projects in the Dutch capital. In this position, he draws attention to public transport such as the Amsterdam North/South metro line. “I spend a lot of time in The Hague for work, but a little less in Brussels these days.” Nerd Lobbyist van Zeeland extensively addresses the dos and don’ts of lobbying. “When you start working in Brussels, it’s impor tant to realise a number of things. You really need to know the subject matter as well as procedu res and dossiers. It’s a clincher, but you have to be a bit of a nerd to function there,” says Labovic. “You can’t get away with just one action or event to achieve your goals. You need to have a well thought-out plan to amend legislation very spe cifically. It’s often about kilojoules or grammes in a certain substance or the apportionment for

Not enough time According to Labovic, what you absolutely have to avoid is only showing your face once, only organising something once and not planning enough time for the people who matter. “The Dutch often plan very tightly, which is very different from other nationalities. Appointments often run over. You need to invest in your pre sence. For example, Dutch people build every thing around a meeting. The meeting time is the leading factor, but the Flemish take much more

time for each other around a meeting.” Has Labovic ever messed up other people’s habits? “Of course. The biggest mistake you can make is to say that you have to go while your con versation partner is in the middle of a story. That happened to me once at an introductory meeting with a senior official. I had planned my diary too tightly, like a real Dutch person. Bad move. My conversation partner made sure I knew it as well.”

mulas of money. You have to be able to do deep dives to understand that. And then you have to mix this with a kind of Fran co-Belgian way of doing business, which means investing a lot in people, lunches and coffee moments. On the one hand, you work strategically, since it’s always about the long term, which you have to combine with the content. You also have to have a pleasant personality to do business with and be a communicator.”

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