The Political Influence of Business in the European Union
Lead presentation: Professor Andreas Dür, University of Salzburg
Chair: Uwe Puetter, Professor, SPP and CEUR Director
Many citizens, politicians, and political activists voice concern about the political influence of business in the European Union (EU). But do business interests really pull the strings in Brussels? Contrary to what is widely expected, we argue that business interests today are no more influential than other organized groups in shaping EU policies. We present an original argument that stresses the role of public actors in facilitating or impeding interest groups’ lobbying success. Novel data on a large number of legislative proposals on the EU’s agenda and three case studies present strong support for this argument.
Andreas Dür is Professor of International Politics at the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles on trade policy, interest group politics and European integration. Among his publications are also Insiders versus Outsiders: Interest Group Politics in Multilevel Europe (Oxford University Press, 2016). Since 2017, he has been principal investigator of the TRADEPOWER project, which is financed by the European Research Council. A complete list of publications and other relevant professional information can be found here.