The powers of regional and local authorities and their role in the European Union

Abstract

Summary The deepening of the Community has led to a crucial change in the position of the regional and local authorities in the overall structure. The most striking features of this new role of the subnational level are: • their increasing direct involvement and integration under general and specific Community policies; • their growing participation in the EC decision‐making process as a contribution to the elimination of the democratic deficit and to the achievement of greater closeness to the citizen within the framework of a subsidiary structure of the European Union; • the need, given the challenges posed by the internal market, for more regional and local initiative to help improve the quality of these levels as locations. How far the territorial authorities will be able to play this new, enlarged role will very much depend on the quality of their institutional infrastructure and their ability to take action. The comparative analysis reveals, however, that the tasks of the territorial authorities in ...