Big Business Influence on European Union Decision-Making: The Case of the European Round Table of Industrialists

There are currently nearly 30,000 lobbyists in Brussels, of which two-thirds work for business interests, with representatives of multinationals and big business groups hav- ing the most influence on decision-making in the European Union. This article ex- plores the influence of the European Round Table of Industrialists, a leading European business group of 50 chief executives and chairmen of Europe’s major multinationals, to EU decision-making in line with its members’ interests. It is argued in the article that the European Round Table of Industrialists acted as an agenda-setter and policy- maker of the Single European Act and Trans-European Networks, and promoted the incorporation of the stages of the Economic and Monetary Union into the Maastricht Treaty through helping the European Commission in its struggle to convince member states. In addition to directly influencing the EU on these issues, the European Round Table of Industrialists also tried to influence EU decision-making by asking EU po- litical actors to accelerate the accession of Central and Eastern European Countries, restructure European higher education and sign the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States.