Does the ‘European Grouping of Territorial Co‐operation’ Promote Multi‐level Governance within the European Union?

Abstract

Through the analysis of Regulation 1082/2006 (also known as ‘The European Grouping of Territorial Co‐operation’), which enables regional and local authorities from different European Union (EU) countries to set up co‐operation groupings as legal entities for projects of cross‐border and trans‐European significance, this article aims to assess whether the daily politics of the EU is still state driven in a zero‐sum game, and conversely, whether states and state representatives are no longer the only interface between the sub‐national and supranational levels and the operation of power across the various levels of governance on a local/national/supranational level in a non‐zero‐sum game. The article will show that a type of ‘multi‐level governance’ is emerging in cross‐border regions in which cross‐border activities are empowering the regional/local level (sub‐national level), permitting it to circumvent/supersede the national level through a process of negotiation and ‘alliances’. Furthermore, it will be highlighted that Regulation 1082/2006 is a clear example of multi‐level governance in practice.

Sub-State Mobilization in ‘High Politics’: The Role of Regional and Local Governance in the Implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy

“…Respectively, the cooperative type of mobilization overlaps with the financial one. The ECTC falls within this category of subnational mobilization as it provides the necessary multi-level institutional setting for promoting collaboration and synergies among its members, as well as facilitating the search for funds, particularly for those members which lack the necessary administrative capacity (Spinaci & Vara-Arribas, 2009;De Sousa, 2013;Engl, 2016;Nadalutti, 2013). Since subnational actors from third countries outside the EU may become members in an EGTC, this can substantially serve the objectives of the ENP by, for instance, fostering democratic values and norms through the close cooperation between EU actors and their counterparts from third-countries.…”

“…Along with the main platforms for international cooperation within the ENP, the CoR has been a key player in the establishment of another, autonomous platform for territorial cooperation, the EGTC (Nadalutti, 2013). The EGTC portrays an explicit multi-level institutional body that allows for the participation of actors from different governmental/administrative levels.…”

Transnational executive bodies: EU policy implementation between the EU and member state level

“…A second variety are European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which are an important element of the EU's regional policy (Nadalutti ). EGTCs are public authorities set up by subnational or national authorities of at least two member states or neighbouring countries.…”

Die Europaregion Tirol‐Südtirol‐Trentino in Bewegung. Der Mehrwert für die Bevölkerung. Ergebnisse einer BevölkerungsbefragungTraweger, Christian und GüntherPallaverInnsbruck, STUDIA Universitätsverlag (2016), 247 Seiten, ISBN 978‐3‐903030‐26‐8

“…Ergebnisse einer Bevölkerungsbefragung” der Innsbrucker Professoren für Politikwissenschaft Christian Traweger und Günther Pallaver kann als weiterer Versuch verstanden werden, das Wesen des 2006 eingeführten EU‐Rechtsinstruments Europäischer Verbund für territoriale Zusammenarbeit (EVTZ) zu fassen und den praktischen Mehrwert sowie dessen Perzeption in der Bevölkerung zu messen. Bisherige Untersuchungen zum EVTZ fokussierten sich im Wesentlichen auf die Ausarbeitung der EVTZ‐Rechtsformverordnung im europäischen Mehrebenensystem (Engl ; Nadalutti ; Ulrich ) oder die Umsetzung der Verordnung ins nationale Recht (Maier ; Engl ), den Gründungsprozess einer spezifischen EVTZ‐Fallstudie (Engl ; Zillmer et al. ) oder die administrativen Hindernisse und Schwierigkeiten in der täglichen EVTZ‐Praxis (Zillmer et al.…”