From Outsiders to Insiders: A Civil Society Perspective on EU Financial Reforms

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the role of non‐financial interest groups in EU financial regulatory decision‐making. While regulatory capture theories clearly helped identify the causes for the incrementality in spite of the major shock the 2008 crisis had caused, this article will consider a range of regulatory policy initiatives that do not neatly conform with this theory. I examine the extent to which non‐financial groups are able to have their preferences met in the making of three different consumer policies: the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD), stricter regulations of retail investment products (PRIPs/KID) and the reform of EU level supervisory structures. By employing a process‐tracing approach based on qualitative interviews to analyze political responses to the 2008 financial crisis, the article demonstrates that newly mobilized groups could translate key advocacy goals into policy by deploying counter‐expertise and co‐operating with policy‐makers in some cases but not in others.