ABSTRACT
The multinational European business associations resemble confederations of national business associations. By the end of the 1970s European associations composed solely of national federations from the six founding countries were in the minority. Associations involving the national associations of the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Austria and even Spain first appeared in 1973, before these countries had become members or, in some cases, even applied for membership of the EEC. To reduce their membership costs, the element of the business community that was most engaged with Brussels encouraged the creation of so-called "umbrella" organisations that could provide more general sector representation to the Commission, rather than focusing on different products. Founded in 1972, the CEFIC is the archetypal European umbrella organisation. It lobbies on behalf of the chemicals industry as a whole, but also has many sub-associations known as sector groups, which focus on product families.
