Changing Patterns of Interest Intermediation in the European Union

It is Part of Conventional Wisdom That Organized interests have a considerable impact on European policies and that economic interests in particular have had a greater influence on EC affairs than the European Parliament. Nevertheless, they have attracted relatively little academic attention in comparison with that devoted to parliamentary interest representation. This is even more astonishing if we take account of the leading role given to interest groups by the neo-functionalistic approach, which has dominated integration theory for a long time.