Influence on the Agenda and Field Effects

Abstract

So far it has appeared that policy debates between 1997 and the Convention contributed to the emergence of an agenda of civil society participation strongly shaped by a small number of civil society organisations and the European Commission. Citizens’ organisations sought to obtain legal recognition of their access to EU institutions. This demand by civil society does not seem exceptional in the context of EU and civil society relations, as “the degree of institutionalisation of interest groups in the EU political system is what makes it unique” (Greenwood 2011b, 206). However, it has been highlighted that the objective was not the creation of access opportunities but the institutionalisation of existing practices (Pérez Solorzano-Borragan 2007, Lombardo 2007). As this relevant distinction is rarely highlighted, it is important to make sense of its significance.