Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics, and National Traditions: Re-creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (original) (raw)
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Debater a Europa, 2015
During the accession process and after they became members of the European Union, the Central and Eastern states went through a process of decentralization that emphasized the local and the regional level. Although the process was not complete, after the financial crisis erupted, these states began to develop a centrifugal behaviour are started a recentralization process that decreased the competences of local and regional authorities. The present article argues that undeniably the European Commission through its regional policy has been an important driving force regarding the process of territorial decentralisation in Central and Eastern European countries. However, this influence has generated different outcomes, given its lack of clear perspective and competences.http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/1647-6336\_12\_7
The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influence-taking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves state-sensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented. Despite the external promotion of a single model, the driving dynamic of the emerging European administrative space remains increased cooperation and common administration that respects and sustains differences between independent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application therefore provide a first step for further research to tackle how supranational integration changes national public administration.
Structuring the European administrative space: policy instruments of multi-level administration
Journal of European Public Policy, 2011
How can we perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between public administrations of the member states? To overcome theoretical and conceptual hurdles, I argue that a suitable pragmatic approach is to start from typology that presents ideal types of supranational instrumentation. The distinct actor constellations between supranational and national levels that are linked to each type entail divergent dynamics of an integrating administrative structure. Despite the external promotion of a metaphorical single administrative space during the Eastern enlargement, the driving dynamics of the emerging European administrative space remain based on mechanisms that respect and sustain differences between increasingly interdependent national public administrations. The theoretical framework and empirical application provide a first step for further research towards a comprehensive understanding of multi-level public administration and a systematic account of the varying effects EU governance has on domestic public administrations.
Central European Public Administration Review, 2018
Municipalities are traditionally responsible for several regional planning and development tasks even if different systems have evolved in the Member States of the European Union. The administration of regional planning has been strongly influenced by the European integration. The allocation of the European Structural and Investment Funds was a major task of the recipients. The regional approach of the structural funds was a catalyst for the territorial reforms in several EU Member States. Although originally the regional reforms were based on the NPM-related reforms the changes were supported by the post-NPM paradigms (especially by the Good Governance paradigm) as well. In several countries the Crisis caused centralisation and the concentration of the structures. Thus three major models could be distinguished: centralised regional development systems, decentralised systems and federal systems. The characteristics of these systems are reviewed in the article focusing on their major differences and similarities.
Central European Public Administration Review, 2018
Municipalities are traditionally responsible for several regional planning and development tasks even if different systems have evolved in the Member States of the European Union. The administration of regional planning has been strongly influenced by the European integration. The allocation of the European Structural and Investment Funds was a major task of the recipients. The regional approach of the structural funds was a catalyst for the territorial reforms in several EU Member States. Although originally the regional reforms were based on the NPM-related reforms the changes were supported by the post-NPM paradigms (especially by the Good Governance paradigm) as well. In several countries the Crisis caused centralisation and the concentration of the structures. Thus three major models could be distinguished: centralised regional development systems, decentralised systems and federal systems. The characteristics of these systems are reviewed in the article focusing on their major...
2009
The author provides an analytical model to capture mechanisms of supranational impact on national public administrations. The aim is to understand how we can perceive a European administrative space given the persistent diversity between member states. In face of the overly complex subject matter, it is argued that a typology that presents ideal types of interaction modes between supranational and national levels of administration provides in fact a suitable pragmatic approach to understand the potential impact of European integration on national civil services. Scrutinizing which mechanisms of possible influencetaking the European Union (EU) invokes shows that administrative integration does actually not suggest overall convergence. Instead the shared administrative space works precisely because it preserves statesensitive diversity. Only in the context of enlargement did the EU need to present a single model to the candidate states and thus the notion of an ever more converging single administrative space was invented.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 2007
This edited volume looks at recent changes in the systems of local government across a broad spectrum of advanced industrial democracies. More specifically, the introduction states that the aim of the book is to explore whether a shift from local government to local governance is widely noticeable or just a British peculiarity. The editors present Comparing Local Governance as an attempt to overcome the limitations of single-author volumes on similar subjects by drawing on the expertise of specialists from numerous countries (page 9). Although the richness of the case studies is surely enhanced by this approach, a price seems to be paid in terms of the comparability of the country reports and the emergence of a clear theoretical argument. In part these issues are a result of the structure of the book. This volume largely consists of individual chapters covering experiences in one specific country. The exception to the rule is the contribution by Rose and Sta® hlberg, which presents a comparison between Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. This country-based structure allows the individual cases to be presented in a coherent way, but limits the comparative element of the volume to the introductory and two concluding chapters. Although these general chapters draw the country experiences together in a coherent fashion, the body of the book reads more like a collection of case studies than a comparative work. In my opinion, a volume like John's Local Governance in Western Europe (2001), which is organised around challenges and elements of change rather than cases, invites the reader to engage in a more continuous between-country comparison. To aid case comparability the editors of this volume have set out a number of key trends and challenges to be addressed in each of the country-based chapters. Although the introduction briefly establishes this framework, it is unfortunately not developed very thoroughly. The complex challenges posed by socioeconomic and political macro trends, such as urbanisation, globalisation, and Europeanisation, receive only very brief attention. Likewise, the changing nature of demands on local government, in particular in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and citizen participation, are described in broad terms and scarcely linked back to the macro trends developed in the previous section. Since these are the organising principles of the comparison, more attention could perhaps have been devoted to exploring these trends and the challenges they pose for local government. Furthermore, the country experts have received a fairly large level of discretion, both in terms of the content and presentation of their contributions. As a result, the trends and challenges set out in the introduction are at times difficult to distinguish within the country-based chapters. Another issue that comes up as one progresses through the book is the relatively limited attention paid to the concept of governance. Although other developments in local government may indeed be more interesting in many cases, the title of the book creates expectations of a more thorough treatment of this subject. Despite the attempt to draw together the evidence in the concluding chapters, the reader cannot escape the feeling that he or she is reading a series of country studies on recent developments in local government, of which a move towards governance is one, rather than a comparative study into the emergence of local governance in Western democracies. Again, John's book, though relying more heavily on secondary literature, seems to provide a much more focused and truly comparative analysis of the emergence of the local governance phenomenon. In my opinion, the charm of this volume therefore lies not so much in its international comparison, but in the insight it gives into recent changes in local government in a broad range of advanced industrial democracies. Unlike the book by John, this volume includes one of the new member states, Poland, as well as three non-European countries, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, in the analysis. Each chapter provides a knowledgable overview Reviews
Europeanization of regional policy in Bulgaria – the establishment of a regional level of governance
2015
The study has intended to analyze the Europeanization of the institutional structure for regional policy in Bulgaria after the first programming period of the country as a full-fledged member state of the EU. Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 as part of the so called ‘Eastern Enlargement’ that was characterized by power asymmetry and strong conditionality. The study employs two research methods – document analysis of key policy documents and legislation, as well as qualitative interviews with key respondents with involvement or experience in the field of regional policy and development in Bulgaria. The analysis is underpinned by the concept of Europeanization and historical institutionalism which complement each other in order to explain the changes and the reasons for them. The main findings show that the EU requirements are only ‘accommodated’ in the already existing institutional structure of Bulgaria and real transformation has not occurred. The established regional level still doe...
The role of regional and local authorities in EU development strategies. SRi L 2013
the Role of Regional and local authoRities in eu… development policies in the peRspective of the committee of the Regions. multi-level goveRnance Revisited in the times of cRisis Summary: Regional and local authorities today face a twofold challenge of delivering locally responsive policies in accordance with EU development goals. For this reason they need to align their development strategies with European guidelines. This paper determines the drivers and hindering factors behind the effective involvement of local and regional authorities in drafting and implementing EU policies with territorial impact. It evaluates several examples of multi-level governance operating in the institutional context of the EU and identifies its most important weaknesses such as lack of regional administrative capacities; insufficient Europeanization of subnational elites and inadequate communication between EU, national and regional levels.
The impact of European institutions on local and regional development
2019
A united Europe is the sum up of how different regions live together and find common perspectives. This does not fit only as a political, social or philosophical idea, but since the creation of the European Union, regional development remains one of the most important cornerstones of the institutions of EU. Different legislative acts of EU institutions refer something in specific about regions policy, regional development etc, but since 1994 the issue of the regions in Europe has been treated throughout a specific institution: European Committee of the Regions. On the other hand, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe is established to make sure that the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government are observed through systematic monitoring and regular dialogue with the governments of the Council of Europe member states. Member states of European Union are also member states of Council of Europe. This paperwork aims to: - Find concrete impa...