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

Abstract:

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