Administrative adaptation in Southern regions: the emergence of a ‘Europeanised’ bureaucratic elite?

Abstract

In recent decades, regions have dramatically emerged on the Community arena, and sub-national actors began to be considered legitimate partners in the European Union (EU) context. Europeanisation theories mainly focus on member states and their different reactions to EU pressures and developments. However, regional institutions also began to be involved in these processes and it is therefore possible to think of a ‘regional Europeanisation’. Theories on European integration often agree considering the process of Europeanisation as a set of pressures for adaptation, operating on political authorities and influencing their way of functioning and making decisions. The perspective adopted here considers this set of pressures coming from the EU as relevant not only for member states but also for sub-national authorities; the regional level will thus be the focus of our analysis. In particular, the cases of eight Southern European regions in four countries will be considered. The chosen case studies include Catalonia and Andalusia in Spain, Languedoc Roussillon and Rhône-Alps in France, Tuscany and Campania in Italy, Epirus and Attica in Greece. It is argued that Europeanisation and the related adaptation pressures have, in all eight regions, both an effect on the organisational structure of the regional