There was an interesting and at times impassioned discussion in this morning’s meeting of the EESC’s Budget Group about the post-Lisbon Treaty budgetary procedure. I have bored on about this in previous posts. Suffice it to say here that the smaller institutions find themselves in a weaker position than was previously the case. The general consensus in the Budget Group was, to borrow from Jackie Chan, that we have to ‘focus more on our focus’. Previously, the smaller institutions would only engage in heavy political lobbying if they faced a particular problem or had one-off specific reasons to ask for a significant increase. Now, though, they will have to lobby constantly. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a crowded marketplace out there and such lobbying will inevitably require redirecting some resources and energy from other activities. Whether this was what the Treaty’s draftsmen intended is a moot point.