Environmental interest representation in Belgium and the EU: Professionalisation and division of labour within a multi‐level governance setting

Abstract

Starting from the assumption that institutional changes have an impact on the structure and strategies of environmental interest groups, this article, first, compares the Belgian and European interest representation configurations and, second, examines whether the integration process has changed the Belgian configuration. Regarding the former, little differences are found, although the Belgian configuration shows relatively more internal involvement of environmental interest groups in the respective policy‐making process. Regarding the latter, Belgian environmental interest groups are more subject to Belgian state reforms than to the European integration process. This results in an arrangement in which a division of labour is set up among highly professionalised actors in a multi‐level governance system.