European Union Interest Groups Influence on the Process of Ukraine Accession to the EU

Abstract

The article is focused on defining possible influence of interest groups within the European Union and the member-states at various levels of the EU institutional mechanisms on negotiations concerning the process and procedures of Ukraine accession using the theory of interest groups and theory of two-level game by Robert Putnam. Proceeding from the Lisbon Treaty provisions there has been defined which EU and member-states institutions take part at each of the accession procedure levels. Studies are based on the official documents and various secondary information resources for classification and explanation of political phenomena and actions around European integration process of Ukraine. Four levels of interest groups in the EU are defined: “intergovernmental groups” created by some member-states for defending their interests or reaching specific goals; “political groups” which consist of political parties inside the European Parliament; European non-governmental and professional lobbying/advocacy groups acting in the European intergovernmental space; and “national interest groups” that operate inside member-states and due to the pressure on national governments try to influence European decisions making.

Four interest groups were discriminated on the first level: “Core-Center”, “Adherents”, “Block Jammers”, and “Neutrally-cautious”. Second level contains two groups – one around the European People Party tending to support the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and another  - Identity and Democracy with the Left opposes the efforts. The third and fourth levels include a lot of NGOs, business and lobbist groups of the European and national areas of activity. The following detailed studies might specify interest groups on all the four levels and define a degree of their influence on each level of the Ukraine accession process.