Association Insight International & European | Page 12

Association Insights | Article

Q. How do you ensure your organisation continues to
deliver value to members and engages with them?
A. We deliver added value to our members through a clear
vision, focus and top quality people.
My association has EU influence, promotes the industry
and its reputation, holds industry information and
intelligence, adds Brussels expertise and intelligence,
develops standards and provides networking
opportunities.
Q. I s CECIMO aiming to grow and develop internationally?
If so what are the key growth strategies and how do
you ensure the Board will support them?
A. We are experiencing increasing globalisation of public
affairs issues and increasing influence and pressure
from global bodies, particularly those based in Geneva,
such as the World Health Organisation and World Trade
Organisation.
Q. H
 ow important is leadership as a responsibility of a
Director General? Can you provide examples of where
good leadership has really made a difference in your
organisation?

Filip Geerts
Director General
European Association of the Machine Tool Industries

Q. How has the role changed over the years?
A. My association is not static. The lobbyist’s environment
has changed: new actors, new policies, a new Treaty,
new practices. It is therefore logical that I alter my
lobbying strategies which can also imply that I have
to change the working of the association itself. I fight
constantly against resistance to change. Post-Lisbon
lobbying requires upgraded competences, legal tools,
communication skills and leadership.
The Lisbon Treaty (adopted in 2009) profoundly
transforms the panorama of European lobbying. It alters
the balance of power between the three main institutions
and makes lobbying more legal, more ad hoc and more
subtle, forcing professionals to reshape their strategies
and practices.
My lobbying is no longer a routine activity. Instead my
action must be targeted and tailor-made for any given
file. Every lobby action that I undertake has a specific
consideration, a specific strategy, a specific network of
alliances and a specific form of communication. Every
lobbying campaign is unique, becoming a kind of ‘project
management’. The new European lobbying requires
technical expertise and expertise in the decision-making
process.

A. I take the lead in mapping all European lobbying files
that present a direct or indirect interest to my members
and divide those files between those requiring no more
than simple monitoring and those that necessitate
lobbying action. I rank these lobbying files in a
decreasing order of priority and assign each lobbing file
to the most relevant lobbying structure.
Unlike CEOs of companies, however, as CEO of a
European trade association I need extra skills of
persuasion and diplomacy to broker compromises
between multiple individuals and interest groups.
It is important that I as the Director Genera