Regional authorities from almost all EU member states established an office in Brussels and account for around 7,3% of all types of organizations registered to lobby the EU (BELO 2008). However, the regional activities at the EU level and their attempts to influence the European policies have been criticized (Keating 1998; Keating, Hooghe 2006). Despite of that criticism, the regions maintain the offices and adapt/change their scope of activities in order to increase their effectiveness. Researchers and practitioners identified set of rules, strategies and channels, which should guarantee successful activities in Brussels (Van Schendelen 1993, 2010; Gueguen 2002, 2008). All new groups hoping to be active and effective while representing diverse policy issues, try to apply appropriate strategies, use the correct channels, adapt to the common rules and culture of the EU interest representation system. Thus far, there is relatively little process-centered investigation on the adaptation process to the EU interest representation system, the changes in practices, strategies, issue portfolios, as well as the particular stages and outcome of this process. This paper aims to present and discuss the conceptual and methodological approach of the research project related to these mentioned subjects. The aim of the research project is to explain different patterns of adaptation of the regional representations to the EU interest representation system. It will further conceptualize and explore the socialization process and ongoing changes in activities, strategies and issue portfolios of the regional interest representation groups, as well as the results of these processes. The outcome of the project hopes to demonstrate the existence of a common interest representation system on the EU level and specify its characteristics. It will also specify the factors influencing the adaptation process, explore the results and their influence on varying effectiveness of regional interest groups.
