The European Association of Political Consultants (EAPC) is the

professional association A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to advocacy, further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that professio ...

of political consultants in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, with members from over 20 countries. Although the foundation of The EAPC was started in 1996 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, the association's current organization was formally established in

Leibnitz Leibnitz (Slovenian: ''Lipnica'') is a city in the Austrian state of Styria and on 1 Jan. 2017 had a population of 12,176. It is located to the south of the city of Graz, between the Mur and Sulm rivers. The town is the capital of the Leibni ...

in 2002. The EAPC is a platform for exchanging ideas between political consultants and is committed to supporting the development of democratic structures in Europe. The current president is Gülfem Saydan Sanver from Turkey. Vice-presidents are Reza Kazemi from Germany, Torbjörn Sjöström from Sweden and Ana Fernandes from Portugal. Past presidents include

Igor Mintusov Igor Yevgenievich Mintusov (russian: Игорь Евгеньевич Минтусов; born 17 August 1958) is a Russian political consultant, public relations manager and professional manager of election campaigns. Mintusov is Chairman of the ...

, Marko Rakar, Jan Juul Christensen, Gerlinde Manz-Christ of Liechtenstein, Necati Özkan, Christoph Hofinger, Volker Riegger, Mario Ballerini, Andrey Bulychev, Mehmet Ural and Bo Krogvig.

Activities

The EAPC co-organises annual conferences, the ''EAPC Master Class'' and the annual ''Polaris Awards'' for excellence in the field of political consulting under a number of categories. Entries are accepted from across Europe and prizes in the international categories have been awarded to outfits across the world. Whilst it takes no commercial position, the EAPC seeks to engender best practice amongst political consultants, particularly when it comes to ethical issues. Concern about the potential for 'video photoshop' to mislead voters was expressed in the EAPC's

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

conference in March 2018. In May 2018, the EAPC commented publicly on the activities of

Cambridge Analytica Cambridge Analytica Ltd (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It was started in 2013, as a subsidiary of the private intellig ...

following the firm's use of honeytraps to exert influence on candidates and the wider voting public. The association said in a statement, “Campaign consultants SCL/Cambridge Analytica appear to have crossed the line in terms of professional and ethical responsibilities. There are clearly concerns that have been raised about using “honey-traps” and actions that may have exerted inappropriate influence on both candidates and the voting public. We strongly encourage all members to be fully open and transparent, and to challenge client requests for work that may be less than fair and honest or against the interests of democracy.”

Members of the Board of Directors of the EAPC

The European Association of Political Consultants is led by an elected Board of Directors. The following people are currently representing the EAPC as Board Members.

Annual Conference

The EAPC holds its annual conference in a different European City each year. The 15th annual conference was held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria in 2010. The 16th annual conference was held in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain in 2011. The 17th annual conference was held in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

, Croatia from May 10 to 12, 2012. The 18th annual conference was held in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

o, Italy in 2013. The 19th annual conference was held in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russa in 2014. The 20th annual conference was held in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, Turkey between 8 and 9 May 2015, with a keynote speech delivered by video link by former Deputy Chief of Staff at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

and campaign manager for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, Jim Messina. The 21st annual conference was held in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark on 20 and 21 May 2016. The 22nd annual conference was held in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium between 28 and 31 May 2017. Keynote speakers included former Greek Prime Minister

George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from ...

and former US Presidential candidate and DNC chair

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

. The 23rd annual conference was held in

, UK on 13 and 14 March 2018. Speakers included George Papandreou, former UK Health Minister

Stephen Dorrell Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015. Dorrell most recent ...

, Baroness Jenkin and political scientist

John Curtice Sir John Kevin Curtice (born 10 December 1953) is a British political scientist who is currently professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research. He is particularly in ...

. The 24rd annual conference was held in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece between 30 and 31 May 2019.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

EAPC conference 2019
Pan-European trade and professional organizations Political organizations based in Europe