Acceso usuarios
Sandra Kröger
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been viewed by many as a means for democratising the EU and for overcoming its widely perceived democratic deficit. At the EU-level, it is mostly European umbrella organisations of CSOs that contribute to EU policy-making. These umbrella organisations ground their legitimacy partly on the claim of being representative of large constituencies. Similarly, the European Commission hopes to increase the legitimacy of its proposals through consultations with European umbrellas and has systematically contributed financially to establishing them in the first place. However, we lack information on how well these umbrellas link to their national members and who is represented through them in EU policy-making. Arguing that active involvement by their constituencies is crucial for the legitimacy of European umbrellas, this article addresses the degree to which national organisations link to their respective European umbrellas. Three types of political representation by CSOs are identified, which are exemplified respectively by organisations active in the fields of agricultural, environmental and anti-poverty policy. The analysis explores the ways CSOs contribute to political representation across different governance levels in the EU, and the various types of representation the related practices embody. Findings show that the umbrella of agricultural groups is much more representative of its constituencies than those of environmental and anti-poverty groups, casting a doubt on the latter’s capacity to forcefully contribute to the construction of a European polity.
