Access and influence Flashcards
Art. 11 TEU (Treaty on European Union)
EU institutions shall give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and exchange their views (i.e. receive access)
-> input legitimacy
Exchange theory/ resource dependence
- access to institutions is crucial resource for private actors -> ability to influence outcome of decision-making
- in return for access, EU institutions require expert knowledge as a resource they are lacking
-> demand and supply of information
Forms of knowledge asked for
- expert knowledge (technical, legal, economic, …)
- information on European encompassing interests
- information on domestic encompassing interests
Expert knowledge
- expert based exchange of knowledge
- reflects technocratic, a-political, rational policy-making sphere
- discretion and rational deliberation
- > EU as an elite-dominated affair
- > output legitimacy
Political lobbying
- pressuring politics resonates with image of EU as democratic policy-making system
- receptive to public pressure and public demands
Supply of information - individual firms
Best at:
- supplying expert knowledge
- supplying domestic interests
Less relevant:
- identifying European interests
Not relevant:
- in overall input legitimacy
Supply of information - national associations
Best at:
- supplying information on domestic interests and (a bit less) expert knowledge
Less relevant:
- information on European interests
Supply of information - European associations
Best at:
- identifying European interests and (a bit less) expert knowledge
- assessing the legitimacy of policy proposal
Less relevant:
- supplying information on domestic interests
Supply of information - civil society, trade unions, NGOs
Most relevant for:
- political information
Less/not relevant for:
- expert knowledge
Demand for information - Commission
Agenda setting phase:
- interested in European interests (civil society, European associations)
- > wide consultations increase input legitimacy
- interested in expert knowledge on economic impacts, technical feasibility of options, legal issues, …
- > increases output legitimacy
Preparatory phase:
- interested in political knowledge (high salience of topic)
- domestic interests can be placed to a certain extent
- formal consultations, white/green books
Powers of EU Commission
- proposes policy, promoting a common European interest
- has sole legislative right of initiative
- prepares proposals for EU legislation (agenda setting)
- > no final say in decision-making, co-legislators are the Council and EP
Demand for information - European Parliament
- co-legislator
- members not experts and never have level of technical expertise of civil servants in EC
- require expert knowledge and information on European interest
- also very much interested in preferences of their voters
Demand for information - European Council
- co-legislator
- (national ministers) require information on domestic interests and political information on their constituency
- depend less on European associations for expert knowledge (having their own national policy preparatory bodies, experts)
Lobbying in practice - quality assessment
- interest representation is not a one-off event
- > repeated interaction allows assessment of knowledge quality
- > quality of information provided by expert groups evaluated to large extent on prior experience with lobby group
Factors determining EU decision-makers to speak to lobbyists (empirical results)
- topic is in the decision-makers’s field of expertise
- topic is interesting for decision-maker
- lobbyist is transparent
- lobbyist is well prepared
