A Reconfiguration of the Interest Representation System in the European Union

Interest groups are one of the main types of representation which mediate between public opinion and decision-making processes in the EU. The crisis of global capitalism and the crisis of liberal democracy as well as the accumulation of crises in the EU have shaped system of representing interests in a new way. The article features the latest changes in this system including the intermediary institutions activity conditions in the Member States and in the EU. Since the 2008 crisis, populist and authoritarian politicians, both “right-wing” and “left-wing,” have questioned the current system. In this context key aspects of the weakness of representation of interests in Central and Eastern Europe are presented. They result from the overlap of the global crises into the specific problems of the post-communist “dependent market economies.” In conclusion, some theoretical limitations of research on the representation of interests in the EU and the possibility of overcoming them are being discussed.