Lobbar's checklist for government negotiations

The highlight and most important moment in domestic advocacy is the government negotiations following the parliamentary elections. Every four years, they exercise Finland's most important political power over a few weeks.

The government programme - whether it's a strategic pamphlet or a hundred-page bundle of precise records - sets out the government's direction and key projects for the four-year period.

The parties prepare for negotiations for a long time, often for a couple of years before the deadline. Working groups within the parties produce objectives and guidelines. During the four years of the outgoing government, ministerial groups have identified issues that need to be addressed, but which were not understood or agreed in previous government negotiations and therefore may not have progressed. MPs from all parliamentary parties come across issues for improvement in their committee work and in discussions with experts, and hear them directly from the public in markets and marketplaces. Their election manifestos promise to get things right.

If an issue is to be passed in the government negotiations and included in the government programme, it must be on the internal agenda of the parties and must be discussed in some way before the negotiations. It is an advantage if no party is opposed to it with all its teeth, or at least has not negatively set it as a threshold issue for participation in government.

It is therefore worth starting lobbying for government negotiations in good time, at least one year before the elections. Advocacy work needs to be done with several parties, because in Finnish multi-party governments, one like-minded party is not enough to push through an issue if others are opposed or do not consider it important.

You can be heard in the negotiations themselves, but the subject matter is usually strictly limited to the needs of the negotiators. It is difficult to obtain precise information on the course of the negotiations, as the process is normally conducted in strict confidentiality, otherwise no agreement can be reached. 

Assuming that the groundwork for advocacy has been done properly, it is still possible to influence this closed process. Before and during the negotiations, the lobbyist must be constantly alert, gathering information from all possible sources and providing negotiators with the information, insights and impact assessments they need, as well as new solutions if the negotiations stall.

Lobbar must always provide truthful, undistorted and reliable information, but in this fast-paced process, it is even more important. You can only lose the trust of political actors once.

As a lobbyist, if you are in the fortunate position to be asked for your views at the government negotiation stage, make the most of the opportunity. Keep your long-term goals and Finland's interests in mind rather than the immediate interests of your own organisation. As a result, your opinion may be asked a second time.

Maarit Kaltio 

The author has participated in government negotiations as a member of the Coalition Party's negotiating team in 2011 and 2015.