The European Commission and the public governance of interest groups in the European Union: seeking a niche between accreditation and laissez-faire.

Greenwood, Justin; Halpin, Darren

Abstract

As interest groups participate in public policy, so demands arise for the regulation of their input. These vary between purposeful laissez-faire, and accreditation in return for norm observance, with attempts to find points between these often focusing on supervised and/or incentivised self-regulation. We classify the EU system as de-facto accreditation, based around generalised and ill-defined notions, and on preferences for the simplification of consultative life and to screen out outsider groups with a narrow membership basis that dont follow the rules of the game. The operationalisation of representativity criteria carries with it the danger of privileging certain categories of groups over other types of groups. A wider legitimacy basis is suggested by a limited comparative literature, a sharpening of the concept of accountability and types of interest groups.

Citation

GREENWOOD, J. and HALPIN, D. 2007. The European Commission and the public governance of interest groups in the European Union: seeking a niche between accreditation and laissez-faire. Perspectives on European politics and society [online], 8(2), pages 189-210. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/15705850701322541

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 31, 2007
• Online Publication Date: Jun 30, 2007
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2007
• Deposit Date: Sep 22, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2015
• Journal: Perspectives on European politics and society
• Print ISSN: 1570-5854
• Electronic ISSN: 1568-0258
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 189-210
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15705850701322541
• Keywords: EU democratic legitimacy; Interest group regulation; Public policy participation
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1304