Currently, there are around 3,000 different interest groups formally recognized by the European Union (Kirchner 2011). These interest groups represent a variety of interests and vary in the amount of influence they actually have on the policymaking process. These groups represent the interests of multiple sectors of both social and economic life within the European Union. Interests range from AGRICULTURE to BIG BUSINESS to HUMANITARIAN AID. In a truly pluralist nature, these groups compete, directly or indirectly, with each other for influence on the legislation produced by the European Union. It is without a doubt that these interest groups within the European Union play an important role in the decision-making process. The growing community of interest groups within the European Union has both beneficial and detrimental impacts on the democratic quality of the European legislative process. By providing background on interest groups and their influence in decision making and comparing the role of interest groups within the European Union with those in the United States, I will demonstrate the positive and negative qualities of interest group participation in the democratic process . In this article I will argue that interest groups are indeed a double-edged sword in undermining the democratic quality of European Union legislation. Before we can adequately address this topic, I believe it is necessary to clarify a general definition of an interest group. . For the purposes of this article, I will refer to Rainer Eising's definition of an interest group, as I have found it to be the broadest and most relevant to the argument made in this... half of the article... ..lobbying of interest groups far exceeds the negative one; however the negative implications are of enormous importance. Taking the current state of the full-fledged role of interest groups in the United States as a comparison with the nascent state of interest groups within the European Union, one can see the risks of not addressing the negative discrepancies. I have come to the conclusion that the improvement in the democratic deficit demonstrated so far by interest groups in the Union has demonstrated the importance of interest group lobbying. Having said this, I believe it is essential that the European Union attempts to mitigate the harmful effects of political pressures to ensure optimal democratic legitimacy in the future. The fact remains that interest groups are currently seriously improving the democratic quality of European Union legislation.