The responsiveness of legislative actors to stakeholders’ demands in the European Union

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which stakeholders’ demands are represented by the Commission, European Parliament, and national governments in the Council when legislative proposals are debated. We formulate and test propositions from resource exchange theory to explain variation in the responsiveness of EU actors to various stakeholders. Our research design integrates the study of the formative and decision-making stages of the legislative process, which are often studied in isolation. We combine new information from detailed qualitative content analysis of consultation documents with an established dataset on subsequent legislative decision-making. The findings indicate that a broad range of stakeholders’ demands are reflected in the positions taken by the national and supranational actors involved in the EU's legislative process, but also that there is considerable variation in the extent to which different EU actors respond to stakeholders of different types and origins.