ABSTRACT
The policy programmes of the three German party groupings such as Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) were integrated into transnational party policies and permitted the first opportunity for interest aggregation on European Community (EC) matters. In order to illustrate some of the points brought out in the discussion of the triangular relationship between the German Farmers' Union (DBV ), political parties and the Agriculture Ministry, some brief comments can be made on the three-month delay in the introduction of the European Monetary System. The Social Democratic Party's concerns with EC matters are divided between longer-term considerations, which are centred on the Parteivorstand and the more routine items of EC legislation the focus of attention which are centred on the Fraktion. The detailed description of the parties' bodies with responsibility for EC business was necessary to provide the basis for an analysis of policy-making characteristics.
