Some interest groups are more successful in getting their preferences translated into policy outcomes than others at EU level. This study investigates why this is the case by empirically testing an explanatory framework emphasizing the impact of the policymaking environment on groups’ preference attainment during the policy formulation stage, across policy areas and decision-making events. The study proposes a complex conceptualization of the policy environment in terms of characteristics of policy issues and decision-making events, distribution of groups’ preferences and inter-organisational ties. The analysis is conducted on an original dataset providing information about groups’ discrete policy preferences, levels of preference attainment and organisational characteristics across 25 legislative proposals formulated by the Commission, across ten core policy areas. The study contributes to the literature by proposing a fine-grained measurement of preference attainment, by exploring the aggregate distribution of groups’ preferences and by proposing a refined description of the EU policy environment.
