Giving a European dimension to civil society organisations.

Civil society organisations have not acquired a European dimension spontaneously. In order to explain the emergence and transformation of civil society at the European level it is necessary to take into account other factors, as European institutions ’ structuring effects. With the aim to drawn attention on this unexplored issue, this paper examines efforts made by European institutions, in particular the European Commission, to give a European dimension to civil society organisations. Our arguments are based on empirical evidence from humanitarian, development and Human Rights NGOs, as well as social NGOs working against social exclusion. Civil society has gained widespread currency in European academic and political discourses. Participation in the policy process has been considered as a means of improving European governance and connecting people to European policies. At first, European studies analysts turned their attention to interest groups ’ participation in European public policies. Most authors tried to analyse, from this interest groups ’ perspective, the impact of certain social movements and NGOs on European public policy. Cases studies provide