Interest groups play a big role in the functioning of the democracy of the EU. These players that lobby for different interests can make a positive, but also a negative contribution to EU politics. The influence of the interest groups on the EU institutions can vary, and some will always be more influential …

The dissertation at hand is embedded in the context of the 2014 European elections that have brought to light a strong Eurosceptic sentiment throughout Europe. It picks up on the intention to create a new Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament as brought forward by right-wing populists Geert Wilders …

Recently, the European Union seems to have a popularity problem. Especially in the Netherlands the attitude of citizens and journalists has changed dramatically over the past fifteen years. This resulted in low voter turnouts over the years and eventually a Dutch 'no' towards the European Constitution …