Sofie Fleerackers

In the European Union, (strategic) litigation has become an essential part of interest representation as the lines characterising political and legal strategies of interest representation are increasingly blurring. Empirical analysis suggests that the glass wall between lobbying and litigation does not truly hold. Within this context, the principal objective of the research project is to discern how the practice of interest representation in the EU may be determined, and whether the EU legal system offers an adequate framework in order to ensure accountability and transparency of decision-making processes – and the rule of law at its core. The research project aspires to conceptualize the seemingly mounting dissensus over the rule of law by focusing on the practice of interest representation – lobbying as well as litigation – and transparency of decision-making processes.

Notwithstanding participatory gains, regulating intervention by outside interests constitutes a vital prerequisite for transparent, accountable and legitimate democratic administration. Given its ever-more complex nature in present day Europe, the practice of interest representation needs to be captured in a broader – more realistic – sense in order to avoid current loopholes and opaque practices which ultimately undermine the rule of law. This research proposes exactly that. Therefore, the research project will not only be relevant to interdisciplinary scholarly research on interest group studies as such, but also conceivably instrumental to the rule of law and our democratic process, its regulatory structures at national and supranational levels, and the interest group actors who are encouraged to abide by them.