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Rebalancing EU Interest Representation? Associative Democracy and EU Funding of Civil Society Organizations
Author(s) -
Sanchez Salgado Rosa
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.12092
Subject(s) - civil society , representation (politics) , democracy , normative , political science , corporate governance , european union , public administration , business , finance , politics , international trade , law
E uropean U nion ( EU ) funding of civil society organizations ( CSOs ) is a substantial and important part of EU governance, but study of such funding is scarce and theoretically underdeveloped. To fill this gap, this article analyzes the main features of EU funding of CSOs and its effects on the EU system of interest representation, drawing on policy documents and the EU register of interest representatives. The resulting analysis shows that EU funding of CSOs in the social sector tends to reflect many of the characteristics of the model of associative democracy. E uropean funds are being directed to groups that voice the concerns of excluded groups and, in this way, address imbalances in EU interest representation. The EU also promotes certain healthy features among CSOs , since it restricts access to funding opportunities to interest groups fulfilling key normative criteria. Hence, the EU helps sustain, but does not significantly constrain, the development of E uropean CSOs .