Interest Groups Flashcards
What types of actors do you get in lobbying and what is the difference between inside lobbying and outside? (both can create lobby groups)
Formal: actors that have been given a decision making role through the treaties
Informal: actors that can play a significant and important role but have not formality – who are they?
Inside lobbying: Interest groups seek influence through direct contact with policy makers to shape policy change as early as possible, usually most impact done on the Commission (ACCESS)
Outside lobbying: Interest groups seek to put pressure on policy-makers by mobilising public opinion, usually most impact done on the European Parliament (VOICE)
What was the service directive of 2004/5? How did lobby groups react? What was the result?
- Services were allowed to have free movement of work in other MS of the EU and still follow their own law E.G. Polish Plumber in France
- Industry vs. Trade Union lobbying groups
- Lobbying interest groups such as the trade union worked to oppose this as they believed it would result in ‘society dumping’
- Society dumping is whereby a Polish Plumber would work for much lower salary as they would work for the Polish minimum wage
Result = Original plan greatly watered down (country of origin excluded and certain public services)
What are Lobbyists?
- An individual engaged in attempts to influence governmental decisions – making on the behalf of an interest group (in this case the EU)
What is an Interest Group?
- A group of people which share certain preferences regarding outcomes of governmental decisions and seek to change them without seeking elected office (outside the political system)
- Can be professionals with high economic resources, to informal bodies with low economic resources who are more protest/activist focused
Why so many interest groups and lobbyists around EU decisions?
- Because EU is having a growing impact on decisions made in nation-states societies through its norms, especially in economic factors
- Lobbying grew exponentially after single-market opened
- EU competences’ matched by interest mobilisation at national and EU level lobbying E.G. Mobile phone networks = got nowhere at national level so lobbied at EU level and won
Why does the EU institutions allow lobbying?
- Interest groups bring expertise which the EU is lacking
- Interest groups can offer backing to policy implementation -> why not involve them earlier to know you definitely have their backing
Who lobby’s?
- Private and Public
- Private: large funding (does not mean more affective)
- National and European = CBI (Confederation of British Industry) vs. Business Europe
- Individual: some are big enough to hire their own lobbyists e.g. Google
What is the evolution of lobbying?
- Increase since 1980s due to single market
- Domino affect = once one interest group lobby’s it puts pressure on others to do the same
Is EU pluralist lobbying or corporatist and explain what that one is?
- Pluralist:
- Multiplicity of interests: Interests groups come and go, there are no set interest groups by which government formally engages with
- Balance among each interest group: Competition for multiple interest groups to access and influence EU decision-makers
- Neutral but open government: Decide which interest group benefits society as a whole the best
How influential is lobbying at the EU?
- Difficult to measure
- Usually done through ACCESS rather than VOICE
- Kluver concludes: private interest groups were not dominant and actually there was a lot of open competition
- Interest groups can be so influential that on some decisions EU must find consensus rather than QMV as interest groups could potentially block a policy into a country
Does lobbying enhance or undermine democracy and legitimacy in the EU?
Undermine:
- Some lobbying groups are more influential
- Lack of accountability; if they are influencing decision making on decisions the vast public may not agree with, we cant exactly throw them out of office
- USED TO BE lack of monitoring on lobbying
Enhance:
- Issues that may otherwise get overlooked get pushed to agenda: this helps national governments understand how EU decision is affecting its countries workings and EU to make policies more concrete
- New register:
¬ This is a non-mandatory signing but if one wishes to lobby at EU level they must sign it
¬ High representatives are supposed to declare when they have met with lobbying groups (EC still oppose this)
How does the EU Commission, Parliament and Council act with lobbyists?
Commission
- Holds monopoly over policy initiation
- Interest groups often create informal ties to commission to influence early
Parliament
- More power after Lisbon
- More likely to side with national interest groups as they are the ones that vote them into power
Council
- Tends to block lobbyists and interest groups
- Important for interest groups to target them as council plays the part of steering EU decisions
What does the EU being a multilevel institution mean?
- Access to numerous levels for interest groups to connect with, whether MS, Council, Parliament, commission for extensive lobbying
- Harder to stay on top of the goings on
What is the JTR and ETI and what was it there to do and what was it’s critique?
- JTR = Joint transparency register
- ETI = European transparency initiative
- Introduced in 2011 to improve the distrust European citizens had with EU + lobbying groups due to the influence they had on legislations and regulate IG’s behaviour
- Sought to improve financial accountability by showing EU funding’s in areas
- Showed which type of lobbying groups are in the EU
Critique: - 15% registered as NGOs should be reclassified as trade or business
What are key differences between National and EU interest groups?
- EU Level = Work together due to few resources to work with and have become very visible due to ETI and JTR and work as intermediaries between national members and EU institutions
- National Level = Tend to present information to government level but will work above to EU now and are more vocal when EU policies become domestic law
