Since the 1980th, regions and, to a lesser extent, local authorities, have become increasingly aware of the impact of the European integration and more assertive in European Union policy making. Therefore, the European sub-national actors have tried to influence the EU decision-making through multiple channels.
Although the most important ”institutional” channel for sub-national authorities is the Committee of Regions, an advisory organ consisting of representatives of regional and local level, subnational authorities can also target the (national) members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and national delegations in the European Parliament to get support for their lobbying effort.
Both the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions, whose structure is similar to the EP’s structure, have formal, semi-formal and informal channels that can play a role in promoting the interests of sub-national actors.
The objective of my research is to analyse the different alternative (semi-formal and informal) channels cooperation between subnational actors and MEP (intergroups; informal working groups) and members of the Committee of Regions (interregional groups), with special regards to the case of peripheral areas of the EU.
Due to lack of scientific literature, my presentation, beyond the relevant document analysis, is based on semi-structured, in-depth (online) interviews with MEPs and members of the Committee of Regions and with chairs and coordinators of these alternative platforms.
Mots clés : European Parliament|Committee of Regions|interest representation|intergroups|interregional groups
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