The complexity and diversity of European interest politics is exempli ed by the multitude of channels and targets that private actors use to lobby in the EU multi-level system. The aim of this article is to investigate the logic behind the apparent ad hoc lobbying behaviour of private interests. A theoretical framework is developed in order to explain the access of business interests to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The degree of access to these institutions is explained in terms of a theory of demand and supply of access goods. Access goods concern information that is crucial in the EU policy-making process. In order to gain access to an EU institution, business interests have to provide the access good(s) demanded by that institution. Organizational form is introduced as the innovative unit of analysis. It follows that associative business action is unconventionally studied in relation to two other organizational forms: individual company action and thirdparty representation.

Abstract.  The aim of this article is to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the apparent ad hoc lobbying behavior of business interests in the European Union (EU) multi‐level system. First, a theoretical framework is set out that attempts to explain the access of different organizational forms of business interest representation – companies, associations and consultants – to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The degree of access to these institutions is explained in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of access goods. Access goods concern information that is crucial in the EU policy‐making process. In return for access to an EU institution, business interests have to provide the access good(s) demanded by that institution. A number of specific hypotheses about access are analyzed in an extensive empirical study of the EU financial services sector. On the basis of 126 exploratory and semi‐structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked across the three EU institutions.

This article is an attempt to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the lobbying behaviour of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business interest representation (companies, associations and consultants) to the supranational assembly in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of 'access goods'. On the basis of 14 exploratory and 27 semi-structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. Surprisingly, European and national associations enjoy a similar degree of access to the Parliament. Individual companies and consultants have a much lower degree of access than the two collective forms of interest representation. In the conclusion, these results are analysed in the light of the existing literature on party cohesion and coalition formation in the European Parliament. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.

Interest groups' many and varied attempts to influence EU public policy are well documented. Research on EU interest politics has made considerable progress in the analysis of both the access and voice strategies they use as they seek to influence the policy process. Other scholars have focused on the legal strategies that private actors deploy when they endeavour to shape public policy by bringing cases before the ECJ. Although both lobbying and litigation strategies have been well studied in the context of European integration and are, in principle, available to most business interest groups, few scholars have asked what determines actors' selection of one or the other in their pursuit of policy change. This paper attempts to bridge these two strands of research and theory by offering a framework in which private actors' choice between lobbying and litigation can be understood and hypotheses about their behaviour derived.

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