The Influence of Interest Groups in Public Consultations of the European Commission

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Utjecaj interesnih skupina u javnim savjetovanjima Europske komisije
• Author: Martina Lozo
• Mentor: Igor Vidačak (mentor)
• Committee member: Igor Vidačak (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Dagmar Radin (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Zdravko Petak (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; The Faculty of Political Science; Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2022-09-29, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Political Science

Abstract

Despite several efforts to improve the transparency of the EU decision-making and address various sources of the Union’s democratic deficit, there is still a widespread perception of the community as a "political space without political life”. Given the internal and external crises the EU has been facing in recent years, including the epidemiological and migrant crises, unclear enlargement policies, the loss of a member state, the deterioration of rule of law situation, as well as growing populism and Euroscepticism in some member states, the need to invest in building public trust in the EU institutions has been increasingly emphasized. There is still a lack of knowledge about the participation and influence of interest groups in the open EC public consultations on draft legislative acts, and specifically, the lack of research on the involvement of interest groups from Croatia (the newest member state) in these consultations. Therefore, the main research question in this thesis is to what extent interest groups use the European Commission's open public consultations to influence EU decision-making. More specifically, the case of Croatia will be used to explore this field through analysis of available data from the EU Transparency Register and Have Your Say portal. The expected contribution of this thesis in providing new knowledge on domestic interest groups involved in policymaking, while simultaneously examining how much public consultation is affirmed at the national level, and what motivates interest groups to participate in the most important- supranational decision-making processes.

Abstract (croatian)

Usprkos nastojanjima posvećenima poboljšanju transparentnosti donošenja odluka i pronalasku rješenja različitim izvorima demokratskog deficita Europske unije, još uvijek postoji raširena percepcija zajednice u svojstvu "političkog prostora bez političkog života". S obzirom na unutarnje i vanjske uzroke nestabilnosti s kojima se EU posljednjih godina dodatno suočava- epidemiološku i migrantsku krizu, nedovoljno ujednačene politike proširenja, gubitak države članice, pogoršanje stanja vladavine prava, kao i rastući populizam te euroskepticizam u nekim državama članicama, sve je izraženija potreba za izgradnjom povjerenja javnosti u institucije EU. Istovremeno je primjetan nedostatak analiza o sudjelovanju i utjecaju interesnih skupina unutar otvorenih javnih savjetovanja Europske komisije o nacrtima zakonodavnih akata, ali i konkretno o uključenosti interesnih skupina iz Hrvatske (kao najmlađe države članice) na spomenutim savjetovanjima. Stoga je glavno istraživačko pitanje rada: U kojoj mjeri interesne skupine koriste otvorena javna savjetovanja EK kako bi utjecale na procese donošenja odluka u EU? Preciznije, slučaj Hrvatske korišten je za analizu navedenog kroz dostupne podatke Registra transparentnosti te jedinstvenog portala Have Your Say. Očekivani je doprinos rada u pružanju novih spoznaja o domaćim interesnim skupinama uključenima u oblikovanje javnih politika, uz istovremeno ispitivanje afirmacije javnih savjetovanja na nacionalnoj razini te motivacije interesnih skupina za sudjelovanjem u najvažnijem- nadnacionalnom procesu donošenja odluka.

• Keywords: Public consultations; Interest groups; European Commission; EU; Lobbying; Transparency Register
• Keywords (english): javna savjetovanja; interesne skupine; Europska komisija; Europska unija; lobiranje; registar transparentnosti
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:114:695865
• Study programme: Title: Master of European Studies; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: MAGISTAR EUROPSKIH STUDIJA (MAGISTAR EUROPSKIH STUDIJA)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Closed access
• Created on: 2023-01-23 09:10:27