Territorial interest representation in the European Union: actors, objectives and strategies

Abstract:

When studying the ever increasing mobilization of territorial authorities in the EU context, the literature has used the term ‘subnational’ as shorthand for very different actors, with the most typical distinction made between regional and local government. In this article we propose an alternative dichotomy. We suggest that ‘stronger’ regions actually share much in common with ‘stronger’ associations of local governments, while ‘weaker’ regions exhibit a number of similarities with ‘weaker’ associations and individual local authorities. We illustrate our findings using evidence gathered from a survey of 103 regional offices in Brussels as well as interview data of 149 officials working in five different European countries. We draw on existing research in this field, as well as our own data, to take stock of key understandings around territorial interest representation and present a series of propositions concerning (1) the objectives of subnational actors, distinguishing financial from regulatory mobilization, and (2) the strategies and representation channels used by these authorities.