Exploring the Factors Influencing Croatian Interest Group Participation in European Commission Public Consultations

This paper examines various factors that influence the level of participation of Croatian non-state actors in European Commission (EC) public consultations. Drawing on a dataset of EC public consultations conducted between 2020 and 2023 via the revamped Have Your Say portal, the paper aims to estimate the effects of various independent variables on the number of submissions and the quality of input provided by Croatian non-state actors. It seeks to investigate how the level of participation of Croatian interest groups varies across policy areas and to what extent it is influenced by the salience and complexity of the policy issue, the years of experience and the available resources of non-state actors, their memberships in EU networks, the degree of strategic political alignment with Commission priorities and other factors. The findings of the research can have relevant theoretical and practical implications and provide a basis for further research on the conditions that impact the degree and quality of non-state actors' participation in transnational policy-making processes.