The Impact of Europeanisation on Regional Governance: A Study of Catalonia and Scotland

Abstract

This article examines the role of political elites in the Europeanisation of regional governance, arguing that domestic conceptions of governance shape the way in which elites view their participation in European Union (EU) decision-making. It compares and contrasts the experiences of Scotland and Catalonia, two 'regions' that have recently obtained greater political autonomy. The article begins by examining how European integration encouraged the decentralisation of power, providing contextual information on the devolution process and the current status of domestic constitutional arrangements in the United Kingdom and Spain. It then examines how political elites are seeking greater participatory rights within the EU, evaluating the effectiveness of domestic and European channels of influence. Despite lacking formalised points of access to the EU policy process, the article argues that Catalan and Scottish elites have been successful in placing issues on the EU agenda and sustaining the debate on regional participation in EU decision-making. While the gradual formation of institutionalised channels of co-operation could lead to greater influence in the EU policy process over the long term, it would be more appropriate in the short-term to focus on the agenda-setting powers of regional elites.

Conflict and cooperation in EU policy‐making: The case of Catalonia

“…Nevertheless, the real influence of these measures has been questioned 33 and there is growing widespread concern that Spain's autonomous communities are losing out in the process of European integration. 34 Thus, the issue of regional participation in EU institutions has become increasingly divisive. Whereas in the early 1990s, debate on the participation of autonomous communities in the EU policy process was dominated by Basque and Catalan nationalists, other autonomous communities and regional elites have become increasingly vocal in their demands for greater participatory rights.…”

“…8 In this respect, domestic policy has become European policy. 9 In addition, many of the areas transferred to the supranational level have been policy areas reserved to sub-national authorities. This supranationalisation of policy-making has meant that sub-national legislative capacities have become more restricted, limited to implementing and applying EU legislation.…”

Critical friend or absent partner? Institutional and organisational barriers to the development of regional civil society

“…Europeanisation has been identified as a driver in the regionalisation of governance (Armstrong, 2005;Cheshire, 1995;Jones and Keating, 1995); however, where the involvement of regional civil society and private sector concerns are involved in constitutional issues, such as in Catalonia and Scotland, this process appears more advanced and more informed (Roller and Sloat, 2002). Devolution in Scotland and Catalonia has demonstrated significant elite actor-led support in the regionalisation of private and civil society organisations (Roller and Sloat, 2002), and this correlates with the comparative levels of devolved power granted to these areas.…”

“…Europeanisation has been identified as a driver in the regionalisation of governance (Armstrong, 2005;Cheshire, 1995;Jones and Keating, 1995); however, where the involvement of regional civil society and private sector concerns are involved in constitutional issues, such as in Catalonia and Scotland, this process appears more advanced and more informed (Roller and Sloat, 2002). Devolution in Scotland and Catalonia has demonstrated significant elite actor-led support in the regionalisation of private and civil society organisations (Roller and Sloat, 2002), and this correlates with the comparative levels of devolved power granted to these areas. Whereas Scotland and Catalonia have a comparatively strong devolution settlement and a strong and engaged civil society within their respective states, others regions within those same states have been in receipt of fewer devolved powers and are considered to have comparatively weaker civil societies and private sectors, such as in Wales and Galicia (Keating, 2001;Rumbul, 2013).…”

Subnational Governance Approaches on the Rise—Reviewing a Decade of Eastern European Regionalization Research

“…However, the focus is the interaction between the levels (top-down and bottom-up), instead of solely conceptualizing the top-down impact of the EU upon domestic subnational levels. Accordingly, central issues within the transition or conditionality approaches, like system transformation or the causal weight of supranational demands for subnational institution building, are of less concern (John, 2000;Roller and Sloat, 2002;Sasse et al, 2006). Methodological preferences are difficult to clearly discern at this stage.…”