Abstract
This chapter examines the interactions between the EP and civil society from various angles. It looks at the role of the EP in promoting a stricter regulation of interest groups’ activities, the possibilities offered by the assembly for civil society representatives to take part in agenda setting and deliberations (e.g. through intergroups, public hearings or the European citizen initiative) and the ways in which the EP can be a platform for opposition movements or radical politics critical of the EU. We show that the EP has profiled itself as a powerful ally for civil society actors. At the same time, the interactions between the two also reflect broader trends in European politics, such as an increasingly cautious attitude vis-à-vis interest groups’ activities, the intergovernmental turn and the closing of opportunities for social movements or the rise of Euroscepticism.
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- 1.
Wine, spirits and quality foodstuffs, Sky and space, Small and medium enterprises, Long-term investment and reindustrialisation, Biodiversity, hunting and countryside.
- 2.
In a 2016 initiative, the European Commission proposed methods for tackling the practical hurdles faced by ECI organisers, such as the high rate of rejections at the registration stage by the Commission, the requirements related to signatories’ data, the period of only 12 months to collect signatures and the difficulties of the online collection of signatures.
- 3.
Including, for example, successful campaigns against the services directive and the port directives, and less successful campaigns on green and social procurement and the REACH chemicals regulation. For further discussion see Crespy and Parks (2017).
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Crespy, A., Parks, L. (2019). The European Parliament and Civil Society. In: Costa, O. (eds) The European Parliament in Times of EU Crisis. European Administrative Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97391-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97391-3_10
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