Abstract
The chapter covers the external adaptation, cooperation and coordination of local government in the EU. As part of a horizontal Europeanisation, local authorities reach out to their European counterparts to share information and experiences, exchange knowledge and best practice, and articulate joint positions towards EU policies. This patchwork of cooperation involves town-twinning arrangements, transnational municipal networks and territorial cooperation to pool resources and capacities within and across state borders.
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Notes
- 1.
For Ercole et al. (o.c.), participation in the advisory councils of the EU represents a fourth collective activity of local authorities in the EU. We will discuss this activity in Chap. 6.
- 2.
There is a wide array of synonyms for twinning arrangements, including sister/connected/double/partner/twin cities, twin city partnerships, jumelages, etc. (see De Villiers et al., 2007, p. 1; Kern, 2009, p. 15; Joenniemi & Sergunin, 2011, pp. 121–122; Janczak, 2017, p. 479). Town twinning can also refer to partnerships between cities in the same country (cf. Joenniemi & Sergunin, 2011) or to the specific twinning of two cities lying across a national border (‘border twin towns’; cf. Janczak, 2017).
- 3.
The importance of reconciliation and peacekeeping as drivers of town twinning is reflected in the prevalence of French-German twinnings in the first phase of town twinning after World War Two (Falkenhain et al., 2012). These efforts followed from the establishment of the Union Internationale des Maires in 1947, which led to the first official post-war jumelage in 1950 (Ludwigsburg and Montbéliard). In the same period, twinnings between British and German cities were also signed (e.g. Bristol-Hannover, Oxford-Bonn, Reading-Düsseldorf in 1947) (De Villiers et al., 2007).
- 4.
These objectives were fostered by joint activities, including junkets for dignitaries; events related to sport, culture, religion, food, remembrance and music; language and student programmes; and the exchange of trade, information, advice and equipment (Zelinsky, 1991, p. 3).
- 5.
For example, the bond between Paderborn and Le Mans established in 836. Next to the pioneering cities, other specific social and economic groups bonding with each other (e.g. youth movements, missionary efforts, world’s fairs, business conventions) were predecessors of modern town twinning.
- 6.
This tradition is still reflected in the standard twinning oath and several twinning rituals.
- 7.
Initiated in 1989 and following from an ad hoc Committee report and a resolution from Parliament, Europe for Citizens is managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and currently funded with EUR 187 718 000 of which 60% is allocated to town twinning, networks of towns and civil society projects.
- 8.
Especially for young people, twinning projects are often a first way to get acquainted with the EU. According to Falkenhain et al. (2012, p. 230), alongside ERASMUS, town twinning has been a mechanism of ‘social engineering’ through which the EU and Member States sought to foster networking and exchange from the bottom up. Twinnings between cities from Central, Eastern and Western Europe are outstanding examples thereof (Hoetjes, 2009).
- 9.
- 10.
We do not consider these ideal types to be mutually exclusive as many networks can be transformative or have overlapping or variable functions in practice.
- 11.
CEPLI was founded in 2008 by the associations of local counties from Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Romania, which in total present 1167 intermediate authorities (CEPLI ).
- 12.
Founded in 1961 the CEEP includes 20 associations of local and regional authorities and public service providers and promotes municipal public service provision at the EU level.
- 13.
CEMR is also the European section of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), a worldwide umbrella organisation.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
The ‘Association Française pour le Conseil de Commune et Régions d’Europe’ (AFCCRE).
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
This includes sub-programmes, such as Comenous for Schools, Erasmus for Higher Education, Leonardo da Vinci for vocational education and training and Grundtvig for adult education.
- 20.
URBACT I (2000–2006), URBACT II (2007–2013) and URBACT III (2014–2020). The overall budget for URBACT III was about €96m; for an overview of all networks, see https://urbact.eu/all-networks.
- 21.
For a detailed discussion of new institutional approaches to cross-border cooperation, see Van Bever et al. (2011c, pp. 246–250).
- 22.
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Europäische Grenzregion represents over 100 different border regions across Europe vis-à-vis Brussels.
- 23.
For an overview of over 70 cross-border regions between 1958 and 1999, see Perkmann (2003, pp. 161–162).
- 24.
- 25.
- 26.
- 27.
This is most pronounced in Poland and less the case in the Czech Republic and Hungary.
- 28.
- 29.
- 30.
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Guderjan, M., Verhelst, T. (2021). The Horizontal Perspective: Twinning, Networks and Territorial Cooperation. In: Local Government in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74382-6_5
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