Regional autonomy as against European integration, a comparative vision, with special reference to the case of Spain

Abstract

The European Union has traditionally been built around States, often ignoring the role of other administrative bodies of lower regional status, such as regional and local administration, closer to citizens. To set in motion the inclusion of territorial entities in the construction of Europe is difficult, given the very different degree of administrative decentralisation existing in Member States, a fact that this article endeavours to illustrate. We should distinguish between countries that are advanced in this matter, (such as Germany, a paradigm of a modernised model, Belgium and Italy, with their less balanced systems, or Spain, in the process of redefining its autonomous State), and others that are trying to abandon centralism (France). The basic lines of this question in these States are set out, in an endeavour to see if among such dispersion any sign of unification can be glimpsed. From the general conclusion it can be seen that the model is of little importance, when what it is really all about is that the regions themselves gain influence in Europe. This influence is actually obtained by the means known as “Techniques for regional European lobbying”, mentioned in the conclusions.