Redefining Modern Advocacy: Agility, Trust, and the Human Side of EU Policy

1. Redefining Modern Advocacy Strategies

The Gazette: As the new European institutional cycle takes shape, what do you see as the most critical shift required in corporate advocacy strategies to successfully influence high-stakes policy debates in Brussels today?

99 Public Affairs: The most critical shift is that access to information is no longer the main source of competitive advantage, making sense of it is. With AI and increasingly sophisticated information tools, monitoring, research and parts of policy analysis have become faster and more accessible. What matters now is the ability to connect the dots: identifying what genuinely matters, distinguishing signals from noise, and turning information into a clear strategic course of action.

At the same time, as technology reduces the amount of “back office” work involved in public affairs, it increases the value of the human side of advocacy. Building trust, creating the right connections and understanding stakeholder dynamics can provide a greater advantage than simply producing another well-informed position paper.

Finally, the new institutional cycle requires a nuanced reading of political dynamics: understanding where national and European politics intersect, while recognising that Brussels has its own rhythms, coalitions and decision-making dynamics. In a more fragmented environment, anticipating shifting alliances and building credible coalitions will be increasingly decisive.

2. Shifting Dynamics in Stakeholder Engagement

The Gazette: As policy frameworks become highly complex and interconnected, what do you see as the key factor in successfully engaging non-traditional stakeholders to build effective advocacy coalitions?

99 Public Affairs: The key is to look for complementarity, not simply scale. A stakeholder’s value is no longer determined only by the size of the constituency it represents, but also by the specific expertise, technology or perspective it can bring to a policy debate. Better access to information also makes it easier to identify these less visible voices and understand what genuinely sets their contribution apart.

This creates an opportunity to build more targeted coalitions around the specific gaps or blind spots in a policy proposal. A niche stakeholder may bring a technical insight, practical experience or societal perspective that is not otherwise represented, and that can materially change how an issue is understood or addressed. The objective is therefore not to add voices for the sake of numbers, but to identify the voices that add something genuinely new. The strongest coalition is not necessarily the largest one, it is the one that makes the policy case more complete.

“The strongest coalition is not necessarily the largest one, it is the one that makes the policy case more complete.”

This is precisely an area where we have increasingly specialised at 99 Public Affairs: working with less traditional stakeholders and with emerging issues that may still be niche today, but which we believe can offer an important new perspective on the future of EU policy.

3. The Future of the EU Public Affairs Landscape

The Gazette: Given the rapid regulatory shifts currently reshaping the EU bubble, what major structural or strategic trend do you believe will define high-impact public affairs campaigns in the coming months?

99 Public Affairs: The defining trend will be the need for greater agility without losing strategic direction. As more actors enter the Brussels policy space and regulatory processes are getting heavier, it is no longer enough to have the right position: timing matters more than ever. High-impact campaigns will increasingly depend on the ability to identify an opening, reach the right stakeholders early and adapt quickly as political and institutional dynamics evolve.

This also means moving beyond traditional public affairs strategies towards more integrated, multi-channel approaches, combining institutional engagement with broader communication and the ability to place a specific policy issue within a wider European narrative. But agility should not mean constantly changing course. The real challenge is to distinguish strong signals from noise and short-term developments from structural trends, while maintaining a clear long-term objective. The campaigns that stand out will be those able to move quickly when opportunities emerge, without losing sight of where they ultimately want to go.