Organized Interests in the EC and the European Parliament

It is a truism that the emergent European polity contributes to the transformation of interest representation in Europe. It is, however, highly contested if a uniform system of interest intermediation is in the making and if so, what will be its shape. Pressures to adapt are quite strong, but national traditions provide strong institutional constraints to European convergence. In addition, the institutional properties of the EU make sure that no single system is likely to emerge. The paper presents theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence to that point. The empirical findings concentrate on the relationship between interest representatives and the European Parliament and are taken from a written survey among MEPs and European Public Affairs Consultants.European Parliament; polity building; interest representation; lobbying; interest intermediation; governance; NGOs; pluralism; political science