The multilevel interest representation of national business associations

Abstract

The role of interest groups in EU policy-making has been widely researched, but findings are still inconclusive. With regard to national business interest associations (BIAs), it is generally acknowledged that they have adopted a multilevel strategy in the course of EU integration. Yet there is little empirical knowledge as to how much attention they devote to national compared to EU institutions, how this varies between different levels of responsibility and which features of BIAs allow for access. Based on a large new dataset of BIAs from France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, this article tests hypotheses derived from an exchange model of interest intermediation. The analysis shows that BIAs with high financial resources, BIAs with a high level of representativeness and multisectoral BIAs have the highest probability of access, whereas the economic importance of the represented sector has no relevance, not even for access to elected political actors, be they national or European.

Keywords:

• EU governance
• national interest groups
• business interest associations
• EU interest representation
• multilevel lobbying
• exchange relations

Acknowledgements

We thank Rainer Eising, David Friedrich, Sebastian Fuchs and Arndt Wonka for helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. Jana Anzlinger and Franziska Jahn offered helpful research assistance. We also thank Hannah Laumann for proof reading. Without the many respondents from the national business interest associations who were willing to participate in the survey or to be interviewed, this research would not have been possible.

Notes

1. The directories used were: France: membership list of the Centre d’Etudes des Directeurs d’Associations Professionnelles (CEDAP) 2014; Mouvement des Entreprises de France 2011: L’Annuaire du MEDEF, Paris: Medef. Germany: Oeckl online Deutschland, Bonn: Festland Verlag GmbH (accessed 10 November 2014); Oeckl 2009: Taschenbuch des öffentlichen Lebens, Deutschland 2010, Bonn: Festland Verlag GmbH. Poland: Lista organizacji uprawnionych do wnoszenia środków ochrony prawnej w 2010r. Urząd Zamówień Publicznych, http://www.uzp.gov.pl/cmsws/page/?D;1290 (accessed 15 March 2012); Funkcjonowanie samorządu gospodarczego w Polsce, Ministerstwo Gospodarki, Departament Analiz i Prognoz, Warszawa 2007, http://www.mg.gov.pl/NR/rdonlyres/EECFD29E-4EE1-4B81-B38B-3421FD74C13E/31956/FunkcjonowaniesamorzdugospodarczegowPolsce.pdf (accessed 15 March 2012). United Kingdom: Trade Association Forum, Trade Associations, http://www.taforum.org/Members (accessed 23 June 2015 and 12 October 2011).

2. The standardised regression coefficients are fully in line with the b-coefficients and were not reported.

3. For the interaction of interest groups with the EP see Carroll and Rasmussen (2017).