Challenge

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) single supervisory mechanism decided to carry out its first audit of Greece’s four systemic banks since it was set up. Greece’s leading bank turned to Alber & Geiger for help amid shareholder complaints over irregularities during the last round of capital raising. Assistance was required to ensure a standard and short regulatory scrutiny that would have not weakened further the image and investor confidence in the bank and its management.

Strategy

Alber & Geiger approached directly the European banking regulators and pressed the European Commission and its respective Directorates to announce their clearance of alleged irregularities. We emphasized the importance of investigations being short to not harm the image of the bank and its management.

We then sought to restructure the confidence on the Greek and European financial sector vis-à-vis the EU and German lawmakers and administrators. Our message put on the spotlight the bureaucratic approach and lengthy investigation on the bank itself, highlighting the lurking threat of economic and social instability of requiring more EU taxpayers’ money to the rescue.

Results

Six months into the mandate, the media campaign against our client and repeated calls against its management came to a halt. We helped facilitate the exchange of views between our client and the European banking regulators at the highest political level. By doing so, we helped prevent another wave of economic instability in Greece’s largest systemic bank.

Challenge

Relativity Space is a U.S. launch vehicle manufacturer developing Terran-R, a next-generation heavy-lift rocket designed to expand global access to space. As Europe accelerates its industrial and defence space agenda, new policy priorities around strategic autonomy, security screening, and institutional procurement created a complex market-entry environment for non-European launch providers.

For Relativity Space, the challenge was to build credible EU positioning and identify realistic cooperation pathways while navigating fragmented EU and national competences across space, defence, and industrial policy.

Strategy

Alber & Geiger developed a tailored EU market-access and government-relations strategy for Relativity Space. We mapped relevant decision-makers across the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, and key Member State authorities, and aligned Relativity Space’s value proposition with European priorities on resilient launch capability, supply-chain security, and transatlantic cooperation.

Our team supported targeted outreach, prepared policy messaging, and advised on structuring engagement with European stakeholders, including space agencies and defence-related interlocutors, to establish a clear pathway for long-term institutional acceptance.

Results

Relativity Space secured stronger visibility and strategic positioning in Europe, with a clear engagement roadmap across EU and Member State stakeholders. The company established a credible narrative linking its launch capabilities to Europe’s evolving access-to-space priorities and laid the foundation for sustained cooperation discussions with European institutions and national authorities.

Challenge

The EU had banned the pesticide Mancozeb as part of its Green Deal strategy. The ban on Mancozeb triggered a Maximum Residue Level (MRLs) review of the EU for imported bananas treated with Mancozeb, which could negatively affect the banana trade into the European Union. It was against this background that the leading banana companies including Dole, Delmonte and Chiquita reached out to Alber & Geiger, to provide regulatory and political support around MRLs in bananas.

Strategy

We were able – in a short period of time – to devise a strategy that put the spotlight on the necessity of Mancozeb and lack of efficient alternatives. We also helped put together evidence on the safety of the continued use of Mancozeb in bananas owing to the characteristics of bananas, and no associated dietary and health risks. Finally, our team brought to the attention of decision-makers trade and development arguments that emphasized further the importance of a balanced decision.

Results

The Rapporteur Member State Greece carried out an assessment of Mancozeb in bananas and proposed a Maximum Residue Level in line with the international standard under CODEX-CXL. In addition, we were able to garner support for our arguments and the preservation of the international standard for the use of Mancozeb in bananas with relevant lawmakers in the European Parliament, and key decision makers in the member states and European Commission departments.