The aim of this presentation is to analyze whether there is the trade-off concerning the Commission of the EC and one of the organs representing interest groups, the Regional Advisory Council (RAC), concerning fisheries quotas within the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy. Why does it accept some advices by the RACs and reject others? The study explores whether the EC accepts recommendations sent by the RACs due to their conformity with the conservation goal of the policy, i.e. accordance with formal institutions, or regional differences, i.e. the relationships between the EC and other stakeholders, or authority of scientific bodies, i.e. existence of epistemic community. The hypotheses derived from these theories are tested using multinomial logistic regression on the data extracted from the communication between the EC and the RACs. Results of the research show that the EC favors decrease in quotas proposed by the RACs. However, the EC rejects suggestions concerning the regulation of measures other than fisheries quotas less. In addition, the EC does not continue the communication if there is agreement between the communities of scientists and fishers in case of the Baltic Sea RAC. In conclusion, the results contribute to the understanding of the motives and strategies of the EC at initial stage of the decision-making process. The EC pursues the goal of conservation of fisheries resources but supplementary it gives rebates to some of the RACs, i.e. regions.
