Europe of the Regions

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Europe of the Regions is the name of a political concept that aims to promote the regions within Europe independently of the EU member states and to support them in their regional independence. In this context, “regions” are understood to mean political (mostly subnational) areas whose population has ethnic , linguistic, cultural or even religious similarities. These can be provinces and member states (such as the German federal states ), autonomous regional authorities (such as the Basque Country or Catalonia in Spain ) or also cross-border areas (such as the European region Tyrol – South Tyrol – Trentino ). The latter example in particular shows that culturally grown regions do not necessarily have to be congruent with the existing borders .

The concept (in contrast to the nationalistic “ Europe of the Fatherlands ”) does not necessarily represent a Eurosceptic attitude, but mostly a strong emphasis on the principle of subsidiarity . It is often defined in the rejection of strong ( centralized ) nation states - but differs in the following demands: Either a strengthening of federal European (→ European federalism ) or regional structures (→ regionalism ); sometimes both at the same time.

definition

European regions

The establishment of so-called European regions (also known as Euroregions or Euregions) was funded by the EU itself . This is intended to help economically and infrastructural weak regions in particular. The Euroregions should promote cross-border cooperation and the regions themselves socially and culturally. In addition to the aspect of transnational cooperation, the EU also hopes to strengthen the potentially weaker peripheral regions of the individual member states.

NUTS regions

In the EU, the NUTS ( French Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques ) are also referred to as regions . The three-level NUTS system was developed in 1980 by the European Statistical Office in order to statistically compare regional units within Europe, including internationally. They are the basis for the quantitative assessment of regions by the EU. As part of regional policy, funds are allocated to specific NUTS regions (primarily NUTS 3 regions). The NUTS regions are closely based on the administrative structure of the individual countries. As a rule, a NUTS level corresponds to an administrative level or a spatial aggregation of administrative units. There is a similar system in the EFTA and CEC countries.

Institutions

Committee of the Regions

In the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 (Art. 198a) the establishment of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) was agreed as an advisory body to the European Union . It comprises 337 representatives from regional and local authorities and has the task of advising the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on all issues affecting the countries, regions, autonomous communities, municipal and local authorities, etc. In related policy areas, legislators need to seek the advice of the CoR when legislating in the EU ; however, its statements have no binding effect.

Assembly of the Regions of Europe

In order to better represent the interests of the regions at European and international level, the Assembly of the Regions of Europe (AER) was founded in 1985 as a political organization of European regions. It currently has 270 regions from 33 European countries and 16 interregional organizations as members.

Council of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions , founded in Geneva in 1951 by a group of European mayors, is a non-profit association with over 50 national associations of cities, municipalities and regions from 37 countries. Together, these associations represent around 100,000 local and regional authorities.

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

The Council of Europe also has an assembly for local authorities, namely the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities . It consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Municipalities and the Chamber of Regions .

European Free Alliance

The concept of a Europe of the Regions is politically represented in particular by the European Free Alliance (EFA), a European party that unites regionalist parties from numerous EU member states.

The Bavarian party , which today belongs to the EFA, already demanded in its original program in 1949: “ A citizen-oriented and democratic Europe can only be shaped by means of subsidiary responsibilities and direct cooperation between the historically grown regions. "

Arguments

opponent

Political resistance to an upgrading of the regions arose above all in the centralized member states, since an increase in competence of the regions could come at the expense of national tasks. In countries with strong separatist or regional nationalist tendencies, it is sometimes even seen as dangerous to respond to regionalist claims.

Advocates

Prominent proponents who have campaigned or campaigned for a Europe of the Regions in great detail in books and comments are the author Robert Menasse , the political scientist, publicist and activist Ulrike Guérot and the business journalist Philipp Löpfe . In 1941, the philosopher and economist Leopold Kohr recommended the division of Europe into a regional association as "Hope of Europe", since then subsidiarity and closeness to the citizen could become inherent in the regional units.

assessment

According to Josef Isensee , the lowest level only plays a modest role in the three-level system Union - State - Region of the EU. The “Committee of the Regions” would also have disappointed hopes for a more effective representation of the regions. It is more about a “folkloric stage”. Nevertheless, Isensee sees great future potential in the regions, because these are "vital elements of European identity", while the Union itself is only a "construct of political reason". The idea of ​​Europe is gaining ground in the regions. "This is where his diversity, that 'inexhaustible wealth', that defines his essence, has its roots."

Even Robert Manasseh believes that the region in the Lisbon Treaty TO ISSUE only a marginal role, but in reality the region for humans is formative mentality and identity.

For Werner Weidenfeld , the interest in a “Europe of the Regions” is only part of a thematic boom: Sometimes certain topics are the focus, sometimes at best on the sidelines. In order to solve the current challenges, he calls for a “Europe of the citizens” through a strategically thinking generation of politicians.

Christoph Perathoner , on the other hand, sees the role of the regions in the EU far more positively. Based on Daniel Bell's statement that nation states are too small to solve the big problems and too big to solve the small problems, he comes to the conclusion that the regions are about to close this gap. He calls for the Committee of the Regions to be transformed into a Senate of the Regions.

Peter Hilpold sees the regions and regional policy as an important instrument for overcoming the financial and economic crisis. This requires more (if not unconditional) solidarity and this can be practiced very effectively through regional policy.

Regions and Subsidiarity

This section presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

In Germany, the principle of subsidiarity in European politics has been described and differentiated in particular by the Aachen political scientist Winfried Böttcher . According to Böttcher, Europe must be thought “from below” and national thinking must be overcome.

A "regional catalog of requirements" addresses the following points in particular:

  1. Recognition of regional cultural diversity,
  2. Respect for the national structure, including the regions' scope for action,
  3. Three-tier federal structure of the EU with independent regions,
  4. Establishment of the Committee of the Regions as an EU regional body with contractually fixed (joint) decision-making powers,
  5. Anchoring the principle of subsidiarity ,
  6. Independent right of action by countries, regions, etc. before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

See also

Publications

  • Leopold Kohr : (en) Disunion Now: A Plea for a Society Based upon Small Autonomous Units , The Commonweal, September 26, 1941 (as: Hans Kohr ) / Telos Press, New York 1992 / in German as:
  • Leopold Kohr : (en) The Breakdown of Nations , Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957 / EP Dutton, New York 1978 / Green Books, 2001
  • Alfred Heineken , Henk Wesseling , Wim van den Doel : (en) The United States of Europe (a Eurotopia?) , De Amsterdamse Stichting voor de Historische Wetenschap, Amsterdam 1992 / Hallwag, 2nd ed. 1992, 18 p., ISBN 90- 9005-272-0 , ISBN 9789090052724
  • Joachim Bauer (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions: Current documents on the role and future of the German states in the European integration process , writings on European law, Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1991/1922, ISBN 3-428-07477-7
  • Hartwig Haubrich : Europe of the Regions , Geography Today No. 153/1997, pp. 2–7
  • Undine Ruge: The invention of the »Europe of the Regions«: critical history of ideas of a conservative concept , Campus research, Campus, Frankfurt / Main 2003, ISBN 3-593-37342-4
  • Winfried Böttcher (Ed.): Subsidiarity - Regionalism - Föderalismus , Münster 2004
  • Julika Elisabeth Himmel: Regional representation of interests in the EU: A study taking into account European law and regionalization tendencies, studies on jurisprudence, vol. 276, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-830-06278-3
  • Claus Leggewie : For a different Europe of the regions , The current column, German Development Institute (DIE), September 17, 2012
  • Peter Jósika: A Europe of Regions: What Switzerland can do, Europe can also , IL-Verlag, Basel 2014
  • Peter Hilpold, Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Eds.): Europe of the Regions , Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 (hardcover), ISBN 978-3-662-48205-6 (eBook )

TV shows

Videos

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Menasse: Der Europäische Landbote, Die Anger der Bürger und der Friede Europa or Why the given democracy has to give way to a won one , Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-552-05616-9
  2. ↑ Philipp Löpfe: We have an alternative again: A Europe of Regions , watson
  3. ^ Leopold Kohr : (en) Disunion Now: A Plea for a Society Based upon Small Autonomous Units , The Commonweal, September 26, 1941 (as: Hans Kohr) / Telos Press, New York 1992 / in German as: Einigung durch Teilung: Against national madness, for a Europe of the cantons - a proposal from 1941 , Die Zeit October 18, 1991 / print edition: No. 43, October 25, 1991, p. 19
  4. ^ Leopold Kohr : (en) The Breakdown of Nations , Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957 / EP Dutton, New York 1978 / Green Books, 2001
  5. ^ Map, inspired by Leopold Kohr's suggestions: "Post European Union": One Europe of Regions , on mitdenker.at
  6. ↑ See Josef Isensee: Union - Nation - Region: a difficult alliance . In: Peter Hilpold , Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 , pp. 7-26 .
  7. ↑ Cf. Robert Menasse: Brief History of the European Future - Or: Why we must achieve what we inherited The Europe of the Regions . In: Peter Hilpold, Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 , pp. 27-37 .
  8. ↑ Cf. Werner Weidenfeld: Europe built on state and region . In: Peter Hilpold, Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 , pp. 39-48 .
  9. ↑ See Christoph Perathoner: The region in the European Union. Current state and outlook . In: Peter Hilpold, Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 , pp. 49-92 .
  10. ↑ Cf. Peter Hilpold: Overcoming the financial and economic crisis with special consideration of the regional dimension . In: Peter Hilpold, Walter Steinmair, Christoph Perathoner (Hrsg.): Europe of the regions . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-662-48204-9 , pp. 111-124 .
  11. ↑ Art. 3b EC Treaty in the version of Maastricht and later Art. 5 EC Treaty in the version of Amsterdam and Nice
  12. ↑ Cf. W. Wessels 2003 in the handbook on the political systems of Western Europe, ed. by W. Ismayr