The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) are two consultative bodies of the European Union (EU) designed to offer expertise to the core institutions. When the Commission launches a legislative proposal, the Council and the Parliament have the obligation to request the opinion of the committees on a range of policy issues defined by the treaties and the right to do so on all other matters they wish. However, the EESC and the CoR do not always follow up on such requests and if they do, the outcome can range from a complete endorsement to detailed recommendations for improvement. The reasons behind the likelihood for response and degree of involvement have never been systematically analysed. Using factors related to the nature of policy areas, time horizon, attention scarcity and institutional interaction we aim to explain the pattern of expertise provision in the EU.
