The Europeanisation of Local Government

Abstract

The Europeanization of local government entered the research agenda late (John, 2000; Marschall, 2005), and, what is more surprising, up to now, it continues to be a fairly unexplored topic, despite local authorities could be affected by European integration in many ways. Firstly, the possibility to get extra funding from EU budget could change local actors´ strategies and intergovernmental relations as well as raise interconnections between potential local partners across Europe. Secondly, the execution of EU programs at local level could introduce changes in local institutions, policies, instruments of governance and actors. Thirdly, nowadays, the majority of the legislation implemented by local authorities is EU legislation and local administrations are obliged to reform their own norms to adapt to EU laws. Moreover, the other way round, local experiences could be transferred horizontally and also upwards, contributing to shape EU policies, incorporating local feedback and innovative urban practices (Marshall, 2005: 672). The panel will understand Europeanization as domestic institutions and actors´ accommodation to EU membership. Thus, it will be aware of both its vertical and its horizontal dimension. Indeed, vertical local authorities’ adaptation will be analysed using a “top-down” as well as a “bottom-up” approach. As Europeanization is not synonymous of convergence or harmonization (Héritier et al., 2001; Graziano and Vink, 2007; Radaelli, 2006), the panel will gather and analyse empirical evidence in order to shed light on different local “paths for Europeanization” (Hix and Goetz, 2000: 19) and it will try to explain the differential impact of European integration in local institutions and actors across the EU in terms of closeness of fit (Hix and Goetz, 200), the proximity or compatibility between national and EU institutional configurations.

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