The Influence of Local Government on EU Decision-Making: Evidence from the 2014 Public Procurement Directives and the EU’s Roma Policy

Since the 1990s, there is hardly an area of local government which has not been affected by European legislation to some extent (Goldsmith, 1993; John, 2000; Callanan, 2012). In response to the legislative impact of the EU (i.e. the top-down Europeanization of local government), local authorities have started to engage in proactive attempts of influencing the EU decision-making process beforehand. As such, the EU represents an additional policy arena in which local authorities can promote and defend their interests (Fleurke & Willemse, 2006; Heinelt & Niederhafner, 2008). In the literature these local government attempts to influence EU decision-making are classified as ‘bottom-up Europeanization’ (Van Bever et al., 2011) or ‘regulatory mobilization’ (Callanan & Tatham, 2014). This paper aims to uncover the conditions of successful bottom-up Europeanization of local government, drawing on theory and insights from interest group politics. More specifically, it will look into the effects of the structural/institutional context, characteristics of the policy issue at stake, interest group properties and interest group strategies (Dür, 2010; Klüver, 2013). Local government interest representation is to some extent a special case of EU interest group politics (Greenwood, 2011). While local authorities can convey public interests as much as private sector demands, they may profit from a democratic surplus as elected political grassroots level in doing so. Local government further enjoys special status in EU decision-making, e.g. through an institutionalized voice in the Committee of the Regions or the potential dual office holding of its representatives in the European Parliament or Council in some countries. On the other hand, scholars in local government and interest group politics agree that when local authorities engage in regulatory mobilization, we may consider them “interest organisations that are equivalent to interest groups” (Beyers et al., 2010: 6). The paper uses two in-depth case studies to single out the particular conditions of influence in the local context: the exclusion of different forms of public-public cooperation from the 2014 Public Procurement acquis and the EU’s Roma policy (as reflected in the Social Fund and different EU programmes). Data are gathered via document analysis (e.g. legislative documents, stakeholder communication and position papers) as well as semi-structured expert interviews with key actors in the decision-making process (e.g. Commission, Parliament, Council, local government and opposing stakeholders).