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Abstract:
Devolution has had a substantial impact on the way in which UK regions organize their representative activity in the EU. The model of stakeholder partnerships, focused largely on economic development issues, has been complemented by a set of devolved regional actors. Relations between the new representative offices in Brussels have been configured in such a way as to maintain the primacy of the UK negotiating stance; a framework of incentives links the new executive bodies to the UK's Permanent Representation, UKREP, in an effort to prevent the mediation of multiple policy positions. Nevertheless, the recent establishment of regional parliamentary representative offices alongside the executives of the devolved territories increases the complexity of British interest mediation in Brussels, and offers potential for fracturing of the existing system.
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