Is this the way to Brussels? CEE civil society involvement in EU governance

Abstract

Whereas state actors from new EU member countries receive formal representation and voting rights that safeguard against their marginalisation in the system of EU governance, civil society organisations from new member states find it much harder to gain access to decision-making processes at the EU level. However, as many of them work on issues that are now (at least partly) decided at the EU level, participation in EU governance should become an integral part of their strategy. Based on a quantitative assessment of membership data for European umbrella organisations and on case studies for which interviews with leading civil society actors were conducted, this article gives a first comparative assessment of the actual participation of civil society organisations from the Central and East European member states in EU governance.

Their Members’ Voice

“…This is in line with Pleines' (2010: 240) findings that only very few CSOs from new member states 384 "are physically present in Brussels for more than a couple of days a year (…), have leadership positions in European umbrella organisations or direct access to key 384 More specifically from Central and Eastern Europe (Pleines 2010) EU decision makers". This means that the views of the more active members are better reflected in advocacy positions and policy papers published by the respective CSO.…”

Europeanisation of interest intermediation in the Central and Eastern European member states: contours of a mixed model

“…A few studies have addressed how the EU influenced opportunities for civil society actors by requiring their involvement in the implementation of EU acquis and providing other resources (Borzel and Buzogany 2010;Borzel 2010b). Other studies looked at how civil society actors from CEE adapt to new opportunities at the EU level (Pleines 2010).…”

Safeguarding Democracy and the Rule of Law by Civil Society Actors? The Case of Poland

“…Regarding the capacities of NGOs and interest associations in the democracies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) previous research showed that legacies of socialist times hinder them to act as watchdog organisations. Kutter and Trappmann (2010) and Pleines (2010) provide quite critical assessments of the ability of interest groups to use the EU system for their needs. According to their findings, legacies understood as social institutions, habits and discourses from the (post-)socialist period, compared with experiences made during the EU accession period and the various stimuli the EU provides to civil society, produce an ambiguous situation: some interest groups were able to adapt to the EU's expertise and bureaucracy-driven style of governance, while others still struggle with a new opportunity structure, an ongoing transformation of domestic state structures, clientelism and politicised bureaucracies.…”