INTRODUCTION

Since the 1980s many European Union (EU) Member States have undergone a process of territorial reform that involves either the establishment of elected regional institutions or a change in their existing political role, confirming their position as an intermediate tier of self-government between the central state and the local authorities.

This dynamic change of domestic state structures goes hand in hand with the process of deepening European integration, although this does not mean that there is a direct causal link between the two processes. Indeed, the establishment of regional self-government has been primarily induced by domestic factors. The situation, however, is different with regard to the new Member States, such as Poland, where the establishment of the subnational entities voivodships was explicitly driven by the objective of meeting the requirements of EU cohesion policy. Nevertheless, boosted by the completion of the internal market, EU Member States (such as Austria, Belgium, and Germany) have been subjected to strong pressure towards the adaptation of domestic institutions and intergovernmental relationships in response to the impact of European integration.

A number of authors² distinguish three periods of regional activism: the 1980s, the 1990s, and the early years of the new millennium. The first two periods of integration saw more widespread optimism that the European integration process would be more accessible to non-central government actors. The lobbying effort produced a concrete outcome in the Treaty of Maastricht (TEU), which came into force in 1993, with the establishment of the Committee of the Regions (CoR).

This chapter, which refers specifically to the Italian experience, addresses three important issues that are closely related: (1) the scope of the constitutional space available to the sub-national units in relation to the European integration process (formal-level constitutional change), (2) the extent to which the regions have occupied the constitutional space (changes in practice), and on a different but related note (3) the effects of the initiatives of sub-national units on changes to Member States or to the EU. With this in mind, the chapter begins with a brief description of some basic European principles concerning the relationship between national and European systems. It continues to outline the top-down and the bottom-up pressures of Europeanization. These two dimensions could be linked, and they are better understood from a comprehensive and complementary perspective. To put it briefly, in order to properly understand the role of the sub-national entities vis-à-vis the Member State and the EU, this chapter will underline the significance of the network dimension, based on a cooperative approach, which will prove more useful than a purely hierarchical perspective. The chapter will close with a series of conclusions.