Prof. Dr. Simona Piattoni held the 2017 PRRIDE Annual Guest Lecture. Prof. Dr. Simona Piattoni is Full Professor of Political Science (Department of Sociology and Social Research) at the University of Trento, Italy. Her main research focus is on democracy in the European Union (both theoretically and empirically), the Committee of the Regions (and its contribution to EU democracy), multi-level governance, and interest representation inlcuding the aspects of clientelism, patronage, and corruption.
Among her recent publications are: The European Union. Democratic Principles and Institutional Architectures in Times of Crisis (2015 (editor), Oxford: Oxford University Press), Shaping EU Policy from Below. EU Democracy and the Committee of the Regions (2016, coauthored with Justus Schönlau, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar); Handbook on Cohesion Policy in the EU (2016, coedited with Laura Polverari, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar).
Representing the Regions in EU policy-making
Guest article by Steven Heckler
Do regions matter in EU policy-making? How do regions construct and express political agency? What was, is and will be the role of regions in the European Union, i.e. a system of multilevel governance, as it was famously termed by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks? Simon Piattoni, who is professor at the University of Trento and renowned research on regions in the EU, has addressed these and many more questions in this year’s PRRIDE annual lecture entitled ‘Representing the Regions in EU Policy-Making’.
What makes a region a region?
Regions are often understood as a geographically defined area, which is characterised by its culture, identity and future-oriented visions. This sense of particularity is especially obvious in regions, like Professor Piattoni’s home region – the Province of Trento in Italy, where people culturally feel more attached to their region than to the nation state. However, to become visible as a political entity, regions require a certain degree of political and/or administrative competencies.
Beyond nation states: What role for regions in the EU?
As regions had to ‘fight’ for being recognised as political beasts at the European level, only slowly augmented their role in the EU’s policy-making process. Piattoni exemplified this tedious process by referring to the three milestones: the development of a European Fund for Regional Development in 1973, the opening of the first regional office in 1984, and the establishment of the Committee of the Regions, which has to be consulted in a growing number of policies in the EU’s multilevel governance system. Today, regions possess three areas of agency in the EU – policy, politics and polity. Their role is enshrined both in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and the Treaty on European Union. In addition, as Dr. des. Franziska Sielker recalled a week earlier in a PRRIDE guest lecture, (macro)-regions can be a useful approach to tackle common problems, such as enhancing transport infrastructure or addressing environmental concerns, in innovative ways.
As there is a great academic debate on whether or not regions actually can wield influence in EU policy-making, Piattoni argues that indeed many regions are able to shape EU policies. She even contends that regions increasingly behave like private actors when approaching Brussels. To become even more prominent actors in the legislative process, Piattoni proposes that regions themselves should work more proactively by proposing legislative initiatives themselves.
The importance of regions: Being a laboratory of democracy
Studying and understanding the regions inside the EU’s system of multilevel governance, as the Tübingen-based PRRIDE Centre does, is of outstanding relevance because regions are laboratories of democracy, as Simona Piattoni stressed. Inside regions, new policy solutions can be developed and tested, and if successful, promoted beyond the region as best practice examples. Here, the Tuscany region in Italy is an outstanding example of innovative approaches to participatory democracy experimented on the ground. There, the local government established an independent authority entrusted with a budget to conduct deliberative and participatory decision-making projects. Since then, scholars regard the policy structures emanating from Tuscany’s legge 69/07 as a prime example of citizens’ involvement in regional decision-making.
A Europe with, of, by or without the regions?
Professor Piattoni convincingly argued that while the dream of a Europe of the regions is unlikely to materialise in the near future, regions will continue to matter both at the national and at the European level. Hence, Europe should continue its path of a Europe with the regions. Therefore, Simona is a strong advocate of the Committee of the Regions, which provides the regions with an institutionalised means to make their positions heard in the EU’s legislative process.
Besides providing the attendees with a diligent overview of the role of regions in the EU’s multilevel governance polity, Professor Piattoni frequently illustrated her explanations by anecdotally referring to her experience as a researcher. For example, when conducting interviews with members of the Committee of the Region (CoR), she astonished to hear that a highly engaged British member of the CoR never talked about his activities inside the Brussels-based institution when being back home in his region because he assumed that citizens would not understand the CoR anyway. Simona Piattoni argued that thereby he deprived his citizens of an excellent possibility to learn more about this often-neglected EU institution. She maintains that representatives in the EU’s Committee of the Regions need to improve their activities in linking back their work in Brussels to the regions they come from.
An EU-styled Bretzel – Discussions on regions and the EU continued:
During the subsequent reception, both students and professors from Tübingen University discussed the role of regions and the future of the European Union with our distinguished guests Prof. Simona Piattoni and PRRIDE fellow 2017 Dr. des. Franziska Sielker.
Ringraziamo la professoressa Simona Piattoni per dare suo intervento stimolante e profondo sul ruolo delle regioni nel sistema multilivello Europeo come PRRIDE annual lecture 2017.
