How leader states influence EU policy-making: analysing the expert strategy

Research focusing on the leader-laggard dynamic in EU policy-making has significantly contributed to our understanding of why EU policies often go beyond the least common denominator and why policies look the way they do. The literature has also provided plausible arguments about the incentives for leader states to do so, but it has given less attention to the question of how leader states achieve this outcome. This article aims to shed some light on this question by focusing on the expert strategy: the mobilisation of government officials and related experts who possess a high level of content expertise to advance leader states' interest in EU policy-making. The expert strategy is analysed with reference to the Dutch government's involvement in EU chemical policy (REACH).