Power of interest groups ‘limited’

Date: 24/04/03

By Martin Banks

The influence of business lobby groups on EU law-making is often over-stated to "mythical" proportions, according to a new book.

Justin Greenwood, author of Interest Representation in the European Union, also questions whether the impact of private and public campaign groups on the course of European integration has been exaggerated.

Greenwood, a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, argues that the various decision-making tiers of the EU prevent any single lobby group from routinely dominating it.

"As policy-making shifts venues from the Commission to the Parliament and the Council, so the rules of the game change. Draft measures settled with the Commission can soon disintegrate in the Parliament and Council," he points out.

While business accounts for two-thirds of the EU's 1,500 interest groups, Greenwood underlines that numerical strength should not be confused with influence.

"Economic giants can become political dwarfs when they organise into micro-specialist groups which compete with one another, allowing policy-makers to divide and rule and others to get a look in."

The White Paper on Governance, which promotes transparency in decision-making and greater impact assessment, has made a difference, he believes.

"The days of bilateral dialogue with only business are drawing to a close - the internet is being used to make consultation and decision-making open," says the author.

Greenwood, who is also Jean Monnet professor at Aberdeen Business School, acknowledges that outside interests do make a contribution, especially "when the wider EU agenda is running their way". It helps, too, that EU policies tend to be regulatory, distributing costs and benefits narrowly on easily identifiable constituencies.

However, he concludes: "EU politics should not be reduced to interest group politics. In matters of wider interest, such as monetary union, interest groups and individual companies play little or no role."

* Commission Vice-President Neil Kinnock will launch Interest Representation in the European Union, published by Palgrave Macmillan, at Scotland House Conference Centre in Brussels on 15 May.

The influence of business lobby groups on EU law-making is often over-stated, according to a new book.