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Sensation in Magdeburg: Now, of all people, the citizens want a lobby!Industry, banks, pharmaceuticals, energy, agriculture and the arms industry — they all have lobbyists. Only one group in society apparently has not yet properly understood the principle: the citizens. Even though they are supposedly the sovereign. 
There are things that work exceptionally well in Germany. If you have an economic interest, you organize an association. If you have a larger economic interest, you employ a department. If you have a very large economic interest, you also employ an agency, lawyers, communications experts and people who know who to have dinner with and when. The deliberately vague term “interest representation” is used to describe this. Not only is it legal, politicians also consider it useful. After all, politicians cannot know everything. So experts explain to them what is good for banks, chemical companies, energy suppliers, insurance companies, car manufacturers or other industries. And the citizens?Only one group takes a remarkably amateurish approach: the citizens. They have no public affairs department, no representative offices, no full-time lobbyist and, above all, no budget of a few million euros.The German Bundestag’s Lobby Register is remarkably revealing. There are currently around 6,270 active lobbyists or organizations registered there. Behind them are almost 30,000 people directly involved in representing interests. Lobbying is supposedly part of a pluralistic society. The scale is interesting. In 2025, for example, the German Chemical Industry Association reported annual expenditures of between €9.43 and €9.44 million for interest representation. The Association of German Banks reported between €5.19 and €5.20 million. Then there are associations, companies, trade unions, environmental organizations, social welfare associations, consulting firms and many others. They employ experts who write statements, analyze draft legislation, hold talks and organize events. Naturally, they know the right political contacts. The average citizen can do something quite different. They can submit requests and complaints to the responsible authorities and to parliament. Under Article 17 of the German Basic Law, this is their constitutional right. They can send an email to their representative. They might even receive a reply thanking them for their message and pointing out that their suggestions are important. Democracy can be so fulfilling. The MysteryAccording to our constitutional order, the citizen is actually supposed to be at the center. All state authority emanates from the people. In political practice, however, this sovereign has a peculiar part-time position. Every four or five years, they are allowed to put a cross on a ballot. After that, the professionals take over again.Of course, there are citizens’ consultations, petitions, hearings and public dialogues. Occasionally, even a state premier rides a bicycle through the country and listens to people in person. But there is a considerable difference between listening to people and letting them make decisions. During the legislative process, a business association can submit specific proposals for amendments. An industry association has experts who can dissect a draft bill sentence by sentence. Citizens usually only notice later what has been decided — for example, on their electricity bill, in the cost of care for their mother, or on the bill for school textbooks. The Problem Is Not Lobbying ItselfAt this point, one should not fall into the convenient trap of portraying lobbyists as inherently sinister, nasty characters. A trade association must be allowed to explain what consequences a law will have for small businesses. Doctors must be able to point out problems in the healthcare system to politicians. Trade unions should represent workers’ interests. Genuine environmentalists are entitled to influence environmental policy.The problem begins when access to politics depends on organizational strength, money, staff and contacts. In that case, there is no fair balancing of interests. A major industrial association can have specialists examine an 80-page draft bill. A medium-sized business owner may read it on Sunday evening. The single mother, the retiree or the care worker are left out. They can consider themselves lucky if they even find out that the law exists. The Dangerous IdeaAnd now dieBasis comes along with a dangerous idea. The Saxony-Anhalt state association of dieBasis has formulated a remarkably simple proposal for this problem. If all kinds of interest groups have a lobby, then the citizens need one too.This does not require a new professional lobbying agency with a glass office in Magdeburg, but rather a policy that turns the perspective around. What matters should only be what benefits the people of Saxony-Anhalt. And citizens should also be able to influence political decisions when there is no election on the horizon. The state association therefore claims that dieBasis itself sees itself as a “lobbyist for the citizens.” However, that is only half the solution. Because in a democracy, citizens should not actually need a lobbyist at all. As the sovereign, the people should not be political petitioners. Author: AI-Translation - Peter Scheller | |
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