POLITICO Brussels Influence: Former MEP gets a career — Boyden back in the Bubble — Desk officers are easy

POST-EU CAREERS CAN HAPPEN: Conventional wisdom has it that for UK politicians a stint as an MEP is more tombstone than stepping-stone. Yet Anne McIntosh is the exception that proves the rule: the Scottish-born, Anglo-Danish politician (it’s complicated — her constituency was in England) was an MEP between 1989 and 1999 and went on to become a Tory MP, leaving Parliament after the May, 2015 election. She is now joining public relations/affairs company Hume Brophy as part of its “international parliamentary team.” McIntosh will cover financial services, healthcare, agri-business, energy, transport and aerospace — everything but the kitchen sink.

BOYDEN’S BRUSSELS PHOENIX: It is not the first time that Boyden, a global player in the ancient art of headhunting, has set up shop in Brussels. The American firm was active in the EU’s non-capital between 1990 and 2011, when it wound up its local operations. Well, Boyden’s back. The team is led by Belgians Baudouin Contzen and Francis Vaningelgem, best known as founders of Belgian headhunting firm Executive Square. They told Brussels Influence that they convinced the company’s Chicago-based CEO Trina Gordon to give Brussels another chance by presenting a “new strategy” in an executive search world that has “changed tremendously.”

VIAPUBLIC BEEFS UP EU TEAM: Speaking of headhunters: Viapublic is a relatively new kid on the block when it comes to searching for public affairs professionals (both lobbyists and spokespeople). After a first year focusing on Belgian positions, Viapublic now wants to strengthen its EU cred and has hired German Irina Michalowitz to do just that. She has over 15 years’ experience in EU-land with a focus on telecoms and infrastructure. Before joining Viapublic, Michalowitz (who is definitely German) was in charge of European affairs for ÖBB, the Austrian federal railways. She is an avid collector of political science degrees.

THE YOUNG AND THE FECKLESS: Michalowitz is also the author of a nifty report on Viapublic’s website which gives an overview of the Brussels lobbying landscape. The essay spells out what everyone knows: that the average desk officer in the European Commission is young, inexperienced and too mentally drained after sitting the EU civil service entrance exams to work out what is happening. “With a bit of luck for those potentially affected by the proposal, she will have had a few years of experience as policy officer in an association […] which means that she has some legislative, but not operative experience,” Michalowitz says. “Without external input, this desk officer will be helpless and unable to draft a sound piece of legislation…”

FIREWORKS: We will not pander to national stereotypes which suggest Italians have explosive tempers, yet we are happy to see that the Associazione Nazionale Italiana Spettacoli Pirotecnici (ANISP) is now on the register. This is Italy’s national association of firework displays, an organization that already has strong representation in the country’s national parliament (boom-tish). The group’s goal is to defend the interests of its members vis-à-vis EU safety legislation, although with a mere €10,000 spent on lobbying in 2014 it is unlikely that sparks will fly. The group promises to organize “information meetings, conferences and regular seminars” — these are all events which should go off with a bang.

 

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