"Europe’s regions in a new system of governance? The case of Catalonia in Spain and the EU"

Malloy, Michael. (1997) "Europe’s regions in a new system of governance? The case of Catalonia in Spain and the EU". In: UNSPECIFIED, Seattle, WA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

During the 1990s there has been an explosion of administrative activity at the regional level in Europe as the EU continues to develop funding initiatives for regional projects, economic develop, and "cohesion." Starting with its initial sessions on March 9-10, 1994 the Committee of the Regions now consults the Council and the Commission on a wide variety of issues concerning the regions. Since the Maastricht conference of 1991 the prospect of this new regional body within the EU, couple with the transfer of state competencies to the supranational level, have generated much debate about its potential impact upon the modern European state. Is the modern European state being eroded from below and absorbed from above? This paper disagrees with the "multi-level governance" argument and resists the implication present in the above views that the modern European state will fundamentally change in the near future. The EU is becoming a more significant center of political power, and the regions are a growing presence in the policy process, but my findings indicate that the political dynamics at the European level are not altering the fundamental reality of the modern European state. Furthermore, when significant change does occur it is the product of domestic political dynamics within specific states; such power redistribution towards distinctive peripheries is not a result of regional activity at the European level.

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