Information, lobbying and the legislative process in the European Union

Abstract:

This article presents spatial models of policy-making in the European Union and focuses on interest group lobbying. It analyses the two principal legislative procedures: consultation and co-decision. Lobbying is modelled as a game of strategic information transmission from an informed lobbyist to uninformed policy makers. The theory characterises sets of proposals that can be adopted under both procedures and determines the proposers' optimal proposal strategies. It analyses the lobbyist's lobbying strategies at the proposal and vote stages, and studies policy makers' voting strategies. The article's principal conclusions are that at the proposal stage it is optimal for the lobbyist to lobby a policy maker with preferences close to her own, whereas at the vote stage it is optimal for her to lobby the pivotal policy maker.