... relations and an inadequate understanding of the EC decision making process, any strategies designed for this purpose will be sub-optimal and frequently unsuccessful. For the purposes of this study an interest group "may be defined as an organisation or body of people who seek to influence policy or to promote their ideas within a given economic and political context, in this case the EC" (Butt Philip,1983,p.47). 'Lobbying' by such interest groups has, since the ratification of the Single European Act (SEA), increased phenomenally for a number of reasons. The scope and competence of Community policies, as initiated by the Commission, were significantly extended, the requirement for unanimity in Council of Ministers voting was, with regard to decisions facilitating the single market, replaced by qualified majority voting (QMV), and the European Parliament's legislative powers were strengthened through the 'co-operation procedure', giving the EP real policy making influence for the first time. ...

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