Horizontal Business Associations at EU Level

Brussels is home to more than a thousand business associations. Most of these associations are ‘special interest’ and/or ‘special purpose associations’. Currently, only five organisations are considered to be ‘horizontal’, that is, representing general business interests. A closer look shows that none of these horizontal business associations (HBA) represents the interests of all European businesses. On the contrary, they tend to focus on different clienteles. These associations are, therefore, less in competition for clients than for the attention of EU bodies. Most HBAs at the EU level are ‘umbrella organisations’ of national associations, with individual big companies exercising a direct influence on some HBAs by one means or another. Compared to some vertical associations and even to some Brussels individual company offices, HBAs have a rather small staff, although the numbers given have to be interpreted with some care: some companies or national HBAs assign, at their expense, experts from their staff to their European HBA (secondments). Considering their role as umbrella organisations and their limited staff, the autonomy of European HBAs vis-à-vis their national HBAs is often very limited. National member associations have their say, and since they differ very much in terms of financial strength and expertise, some have more influence in their European HBA than others.