ABSTRACT
Since the Treaty of Rome came into force in 1958, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played an important role in the process of European integration. In the course of the deepening and widening of the integration process, the number and activities of NGOs in Brussels have grown constantly over the decades. The consensus-oriented decision-making procedure presents them with numerous institutionalized and non-institutionalized channels for agenda setting, interest representation and advocacy, and via the Economic and Social Committee, they are institutionally integrated in the political system of the European Union.
