Change or presistence of interest representation in the EU? British, French, German, Polish and EU interest groups in comparative perspective (EUROLOB II)

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EUROLOB II investigates changes and variations in interest intermediation strategies targeted at EU policy-making. The project is based on the replication of an earlier survey (EUROLOB I, 1999), addressed to Business Interest Associations (BIA) and selected companies in Germany, Great Britain, France, and the EU. Both surveys together offer a large data basis, which allows us to disclose and explain similarities and differences in lobbying strategies of national and EU-level associations. In addition, temporal comparison allows us to reveal changes and/or persistence in EU-lobby strategies. It is of interest whether and how interest groups have responded to changing context conditions like the marked increase in EU regulatory competences in several policy fields, institutional reforms, EU-enlargement and the upgrading of non-governmental organisations (NGO) in European policy making. To capture differences and similarities in the lobbying approach of business and NGO the research will now also include EU-level NGO. For comparative reasons the investigation will be extended to one of the new member states, thus we will include business interest associations in Poland. The written survey will be supplemented with a series of interviews; the quantitative analysis will be based on the data of both surveys (EUROLOB I and EUROLOB II).