Participation of Civil Society in EU Trade Policy Making: How Inclusive is Inclusion?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Inclusiveness ladder.

Table 1. The inclusiveness ladder applied to the EU CSMs.

	Purpose	Degree of attainment
Inclusiveness	Impact	• The meetings lack impact • Participants cannot trigger the dispute settlement mechanism; no sanctions • The Commission unwilling to act upon recommendations
	Monitoring	Limited capacity for monitoring Often lack of capacity for independent research Unclear procedures for advising governments Limited governments’ accountability
	Information sharing	Information sharing mostly possible Participants can exchange information to some extent However, lack of independence and limited representativeness of some members Some discussions mostly procedural, sometimes lack focus, limited interaction with other bodies
	Instrumental	Logistical requirements are present Meetings can effectively take place Original flaws largely addressed

Table 2. Most important purpose.

	Intended		Ideal
	2016	2018	2016	2018
Instrumental	42%	19%	4%	8%
Information sharing	42%	56%	35%	24%
Monitoring	16%	25%	42%	41%
Policy impact	0%	0%	19%	27%

Source: Own data from surveys 2016 and 2018.

Chart 1. Opinion on achievements of CSMs (2018).

Chart 2. Evaluation of EU FTAs in which CSMs have been set up.