Region (Europe)

The European Union created a Committee of the Regions to represent Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation-state level. The committee has its headquarters in Brussels.

Reasons given for this include:

Some nation states which have historically had a strong centralized administration have transferred political power to the regions. Examples of this include the current negotiations in France concerning increased autonomy for Corsica. Some other states have traditionally had strong regions, such as the Federal Republic of Germany or the autonomous communities of Spain; yet others have been structured on the basis of national and municipal government with little in between. During the United Kingdom's membership of the EU, the term 'region' also included England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are formally referred to as countries by the British government.

Regional and local authorities elect delegates to the Committee of the Regions. The committee is a consultative body, and is asked for its opinion by the council or the commission on new policies and legislation in the following areas:

On certain issues it works in partnership with the Economic and Social Committee.

The politics of regionalism has also had an impact at the pan-European level. The regions of Europe had lobbied for an increased say in EU affairs, especially the German Länder. This resulted in the creation by the Maastricht Treaty of the Committee of the Regions, and provision for member states to be represented in the council by ministers from their regional governments.

The Council of Europe also has a congress of local and regional authorities, similar to the EU's Committee of the Regions.

Strengthening economic competition between communities further supports the creation of authentic regions within the EU and almost all EU member states recently have or currently are re-organizing their administration to create competitive EU regions. Often these regions better reflect culture and identity and a sense of common interests.