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Lobbying Competition : Sciences Po Bordeaux winner of the 2015 edition sponsored by Arnaud Leroy

After a three-month competition, the award ceremony of the 2015 Lobbying Competition rewarded the best students and participating Master’s at la Maison de la recherche (Paris 7th). The event, organized by Spin Partners, was sponsored by Arnaud Leroy, Member of Parliament of the 5th district of French expatriates (Andorra, Monaco, Portugal & Spain).

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1st prize goes to APRI Master of Sciences Po Bordeaux
In the school-category, the 1st prize has been attributed to the Master APRI (Affaires Publiques et Représentation des Intérêts) of Sciences Po Bordeaux. This, in particular, thanks to the five students who received the 1st prize in the group-category for the strategy they proposed to Transdev in favor of “the next opening to competition of regional trains in France (2020)”.


Laurent Mazille (Director for institutional relations of Transdev) who gave them the prize, highlighted the operational aspect of their work, that he will transmit internally to inspire local strategies. Him, as well as Joëlle Bonnefon (Delegate for Parliamentary Relation of Groupe la Poste), co-evaluator, enjoyed the tools provided by the students, like a model of launch video of a “national concertation on rail transport of tomorrow”.


This “ready to use” aspect of the recommendations made has also been highlighted for the 2nd and 3rd prize, awarded by Nora Medger (Responsible for institutional relations of FEDEREC) and Gaëlle Haut (EU Affairs Officer, Surfrider Foundation Europe) to students of the Ecole de Guerre Economique and Sciences Po Grenoble.


According to Sébastien Guigner (Head of the Master APRI – Sciences Po Bordeaux and recipient of the 1st prize in the school-category), the Competition represents, beyond the operational recommendations, a skill framework required to exercise the lobbyist profession, whose practice is no longer decried.


Arnaud Leroy : a positive vision of lobbying


Arnaud Leroy, sponsor of the 2015 Competition, has a positive vision of lobbying, as long as its practice takes place in transparency. In this spirit, he worked in the National Assembly in favor of detailed listings of lobbyists.


Considering their role as essential, he regrets that lobbyists still have a bad reputation. According to the MP, “in a context of globalization, we must share information and meet in order to find the best solutions and make the companies win”.


He adds that information provided by lobbyists provide concrete elements of “cons-expertise” to counterbalance the Administration, against which MPs have very few means”.  


Today, companies as well as NGOs share this positive practice of lobbying. That is why, according to Arnaud Leroy, the Lobbying Competition is interesting: because it puts on the same level these different types of organizations.


For further information :
Edition 2015 palmares on Lobbying Competition site.