Once you have defined your issue, it is important to identify the stakeholders you will want to address.
Understanding the policy environment in your country will help you to determine what your primary policy ask should be. For example, you can better understand the policy landscape by looking at bills currently discussed in the parliament.
When thinking about your issue, ask yourself whom are you seeking to influence? Your tactics should differ depending on your identified stakeholders. Identify the most appropriate stakeholders that care about your cause or will care about your cause in the future.
Different stakeholders have different concerns. For example the minister of health will have different concerns than a member of parliament.
Your issue may be very broad and appeal to a wide range of stakeholders. Sometimes your issue needs to be tailored to a particular stakeholder, such as member of parliament or a decision-maker in a ministry.
Ideally you should focus on just one ask to make sure that you are able to provide information, specific to this ask. Ensure your ask falls within that person’s remit and that they can take action.
Sometimes more junior civil servants might be more appropriate contacts than going directly to the minister of health. It is also important to think ahead in terms of election cycles and who can be your ally in the policy debate?
Lastly it is important to always follow up and keep track of your initiatives.
Countries represented at YCE’s Fundamentals of EU Policy Making included Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.
A special thank you goes out to our sponsors for helping make the event possible.