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Multilevel governance in practice: Actors and institutional competition shaping EU regional policy in France

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French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

In order to analyze multi-level governance in practice, this article presents the initial results of an empirical study on EU policy officers in French local authorities. This research shows the limits of theories that claim that the development of this group is an essential channel of Europeanization processes. Owing to their specialization and claim of a specific competence, these professionals tend to hold a monopoly over the dissemination of specifically European standards and skills. My analysis also nuances the hypothesis of their multi-level mobility and the ability of these agents to promote significant exchanges between government levels. Lastly, by emphasizing the constraints of this intermediation activity, I highlight a largely unexplored point in research on interinstitutional mediation: the situations of ‘double bind’ to which these positions tend to lead and that prevail in the agents’ practices.

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Notes

  1. In the present case, this refers to EU arenas – specifically, DG Regio, the local interest representatives’ Brussels offices, the Committee of the Regions, the DATAR and the state's decentralized departments in the regions, the directions of operations in local authorities, the organizations involved in local territorial development and so on.

  2. For an introduction to ‘regionalization’ in France, see Romain Pasquier's paper in French Politics (2009).

  3. This system allows local authorities to directly manage a limited amount of structural funds (currently ERDF and ESF). Over a given programming period, the central government delegates the management of funds – from 10 to 40 per cent – to regional (or general) councils.

  4. The Centre national de la fonction publique territoriale is a public body in charge of training and professionalizing staff in local authorities. It organizes a number of concours and exams in the territorial civil service, regulating the job market and the careers of executives in local authorities; source: www.cnfpt.fr/fr/mieuxnousconnaitre/.

  5. CNFPT job description ‘Chargé de mission Europe’ (EU policy officer), 2003.

  6. These are excerpts from questionnaire responses.

  7. This department includes 25 staffers, who manage several European programmes (global grant, Objective 2 in the ERDF and Objectives 2 and 3 in the ESF, and Equal, Urban and Interreg projects (2000–2006 programming period)).

  8. Similarly, mobility towards the ‘national-European’ level is also rather limited.

  9. Over the 2000–2006 period, France was the first ‘Objective 2’ country, receiving more than 28 per cent of Objective 2 European funds. Moreover, there were eligible territories in all French metropolitan regions (Taiclet, 2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GSPE-PRISME, UMR 7012, 5, allée du général Rouvillois, CS 50008, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg cedex, 67083, France

    Marine de Lassalle

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de Lassalle, M. Multilevel governance in practice: Actors and institutional competition shaping EU regional policy in France. Fr Polit 8, 226–247 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2010.11

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