Party Recognition of Interest Groups in the European Parliament, 1999-2019

This paper concerns party-interest group dynamics in the European Parliament (EP) and asks which interest groups EP party groups recognize as relevant. Party recognition can be an important asset to interest groups and it can furthermore signal where the party stands on an issue to the public at large and other EU actors. Although previous research has shown that individual members of parliament in the eighth EP were more likely to recognize prominent, ideologically similar interest groups from their own member states, little is known about changes over time and other drivers of recognition. This paper investigates party recognition of interest groups across all EP speeches between 1999-2019, thus covering recognition before and after the Lisbon Treaty that further empowered the EP entered into force, and the effects of party and issue characteristics on recognition. With their increased cohesiveness and the EP’s increased powers, EP party groups are likely attractive targets for interest groups that seek to influence EU policy decisions and examining who parties choose to recognize as relevant actors contributes to broader research on interest group access and interest group politics in the EU. EP party groups moreover serve an important representative function and understanding party recognition of interest groups sheds further light on whose interests the parties represent.