Twelve firms shape the EU rulebook on AI, platforms, defense, and energy. The AI Act enforcement era made public affairs in Brussels the most consequential lobbying market outside Washington.
Brussels has roughly 25,000 registered lobbyists working the European Commission, Parliament, and Council. The EU Transparency Register lists more than 12,000 organizations with active engagement. The work moved from quiet corridor lobbying to full-spectrum public affairs the moment the AI Act, the Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act became enforceable.
Below are the firms that matter — by AI Act enforcement, platform regulation, defense, energy, and the rest of the Berlaymont agenda.
FleishmanHillard Brussels
The largest PA shop in town. Tech, health, energy, financial services. Deep regulatory benches on AI Act implementation and DSA enforcement. Part of Omnicom Public Relations Group post-IPG.
Burson
Formed from the WPP merger of BCW and Hill & Knowlton. One of the largest combined PA networks in Brussels. Strong on corporate reputation, financial services, and energy transition.
Kreab
Stockholm-headquartered, Brussels-heavy. Financial services, tech regulation, sustainability. Founded by Peje Emilsson; runs across 25 markets.
Interel
Independent, founded 1985. Brussels and Washington. Healthcare, tech, energy, trade. Strong association-management practice that gives it pipeline visibility competitors lack.
FTI Consulting Brussels
Strategic communications muscle attached to litigation, M&A, and crisis. Used for high-stakes Commission investigations — antitrust, state aid, sanctions.
APCO Worldwide
Margery Kraus's independent global firm. Brussels office punches above weight on tech, defense, and US–EU trade.
Cambre Associates
Independent, founded 2007 by Tom Parker. Boutique focus on energy, climate, mobility, digital. Bought a reputation for senior-only staffing.
Rud Pedersen Public Affairs
Nordic-rooted, now one of the largest independent PA groups in Europe. Aggressive Brussels growth via acquisition. Tech, defense, financial services.
Independent, founded 2007. Trade policy, agri-food, climate. Punches hard for size on Commission-level mandates.
Grayling Brussels
Part of the Huntsworth network, now under Accordience. Tech, transport, consumer.
Edelman Brussels
Edelman's EU practice on tech reputation, ESG, and corporate affairs.
Why Brussels Is The Most Consequential PA Market In The World
Washington lobbying spends more money. Brussels writes the rules that bind every multinational. The AI Act applies to any company training or deploying frontier AI inside the EU. The DSA binds every platform serving European users. The DMA names the gatekeepers and dictates conduct. Energy transition spending runs into the trillions. Defense procurement under ReArm Europe is being redrawn in real time.
The firms above are the operating layer between the Commission's regulatory machinery and the companies it binds. AI Communications inside Brussels means citation share inside the policy briefs, the consultation responses, the AI-mediated press cycle, and the answer engines that journalists and officials now use to draft their first take.
The buyer of public affairs in Brussels is changing too.
About Everything-PR
Everything-PR is the intelligence platform for communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era. Thirty-plus publications. Publishing since 2009. Original reporting, research, and analysis — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
