The communitisation of asylum and migration policies under the 1999 Amsterdam Treaty opened up new strategies of intervention for interest groups representing the concerns of migrants (pro-migrant groups). As the agenda-setter of community policies, the Commission ought to be the most momentous point of contact for pro-migrant groups. Nevertheless, as it is common that policy proposals are modified during the course of the negotiation, pro-migrant groups are advised to consider the impact of the European Parliament and the Council in their lobbying strategies. Although the Commission has made extensive use of its right of agenda-setting over the last decade, pro-migrant groups’ lobbying attempts towards the EU institutions remain largely ignored in the literature. Thus, using the example of the long-term residents directive, this paper, firstly, identifies those pro-migrant groups active in EU lobbying; secondly, explores their lobbying strategies; and thirdly, assesses their influence on the EU policy-making process. For the identification of pro-migrant groups that seek to exert influence at EU level, the Commission’s register of interest representatives is examined to find groups whose declaration includes asylum or migration concerns. For the exploration of their lobbying strategies, the groups’ channels of intervention (Commission, European Parliament, Council) and their types of intervention (lobbying on their own; organisation in networks) are investigated. To assess the influence of each group, the following three methods that complement one another are applied: process tracing, assessment of preference attainment, and attributed influence method.
