Functional and Territorial Interest Representation in the EU

Despite a substantial legacy of literature on EU interest representation, there is no systematic analysis available on whether a European model of interest representation in EU governance is detectable across functional, and territorial, categories of actors. ‘Functional’ actors include associations for business interests, the professions, and trade unions, as well as ‘NGOs’ and social movements; territorial based entities include public actors (such as regional and local government), as well as actors primarily organised at territorial level. What are the similarities and differences between territorial, and functional, based entities, and are the similarities greater than the differences? Are the differences sufficient to justify the use of different analytical tools? Are the differences within these categories more significant than those across them? Is there a ‘professionalised European lobbying class’ across all actor types? Does national embeddedness make a difference? Which factors explain the success of actors to participate in European governance?

1. Introduction: Territorial and Functional Interest Representation in EU-Governance, Michele Knodt. 2. The Problematic Coexistence of Functional and Territorial Representation in the EU, Simona Piattoni. 3. Collaboration and Consultation: Functional Representation in EU Stakeholder Dialogues, Holly Jarman. 4. Lobbying via Consultation – Territorial and Functional Interests in the Commission’s Consultation Regime, Christine Quittkat. 5. Strategies of territorial and functional interests: Towards a model of European interest intermediation?, Michele Knodt. 6. Actors of the Common Interest? The Brussels Offices of the Regionsm, Justin Greenwood. 7. Social Movements and the European Interest Intermediation of Public Interest Groups, Carlo Ruzza. 8. Interests, Influence and Information: Comparing the Influence of Interest Groups in the European Union, Adam Chalmers. 9. The impact of national business cultures on large-firm lobbying in the European Union: Evidence from a large-scale survey of Government Affairs Managers, Andrew Barron. 10. Weakness as precondition of smooth integration? Representation strategies of functional interest groups from new member states at the EU level, Heiko Pleines.