Lobbying success in EU digital policy

The digital economy has undergone one of the largest transformative changes since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The European Union has responded to this development introducing a series of policies under the framework of the EU digital single market. While there is a growing body of literature explaining the involvement of interest groups in Brussels, few have looked at what interest groups are succeeding in the realm of digital policy. This research provides a case study on interest group involvement on two EU proposals, the data protection regulation (GDPR) and cyber security directive (NIS) to understand what explains the success of interest groups in EU digital policy. From analysing popular theoretical approaches on explaining influence, elements of issue-specific characteristics, interest group characteristics and institutional factors are used to explain why some interest groups out-perform others and how underperforming groups can improve their position. This research uses the preference attainment method in measuring preferences of interest groups by adapting a quantitative design to suit a case study research. The results indicate that public salience of an issue is an important factor to consider in certain institutional contexts when measuring the success of interest groups. The research supports a common school of thought in the literature which indicates the dominance of private interests over public interests with respect to EU digital policy. However, NGOs can improve their position by understanding explanatory factors of success outlined in these two proposals to adjust their strategies to improve their outcome.