Decoupling the transmission belt's role of domestic groups in EU governance

Abstract

The European Union has in recent years exerted great efforts to resolve the alleged democratic deficit. One of the main strategies for reengaging with the public was to reach out to domestic civil society organizations (CSOs). It was expected that CSOs would act as transmission belts, by uniting people for a common cause at the grassroots level and serve as sources of policy information at the EU-level. Despite lofted expectations, political scientists have recently scrutinized the potential of domestic civil society involvement in EU governance by pointing at the mobilization bias of organizations at the European level and the weak ties with the grassroots. To date, there is limited knowledge on why some domestic groups have been better able to serve as transmission belts between the grassroots and European level than others. However, insight in this is crucial to understand the precise potential role of domestic groups within the EU. The main conclusion of this study is that there is no latent tension between the dimensions of grassroots maintenance and EU mobilization, which together were assumed to make up for the transmission belt’s role. Moreover, the competition for the executives’ attention and domestic (financial) patronage partly explain for that (a) not all groups are equally receptive to the interests of their members and (b) not all groups are similarly effective in transmitting the interests of their members to the relevant political actors in the EU.