What are the major influences that increasing European integration has had and is having upon moves towards "regional" government within the United Kingdom?

Résumé du document

The United Kingdom has a particular administrative division that is radically different from other European countries, where there are regions or Landers and then other sub regional entities under the state. The United Kingdom is constituted of four nations, like its official name suggests. These are: United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. Due to this division, the European integration did not affect and still does not affect the country in the same way as its partner since the entry of the UK in this supranational process. We will see in this essay, what are the major influences that increasing European integration has had and is having on movements towards "regional" government within the United Kingdom. In order to do so, we will tackle different aspects such as politics, the economy and the society.

Extraits

[...] The counterpart to this is the need to improve transparency, especially for financial management, control of specific measures and project selection procedures. But still Westminster has its word on all regional fund which shows that regional government are not as free as they seem to be concerning European funds. In the United Kingdom, the EU's regional assistance is concentrated on three types of regions, corresponding to two of the Structural Funds' priority Objectives. The Objective 1 which consists in the development of the least favoured regions due in general to the peripherical situation. [...]

[...] Divergence or Convergence IPPR, London p 1 Available from: http://www.devolution.ac.uk/Keating_paper2.htm [Accessed 18 April 2005] John Adams and Peter Robinson, A new regional policy for the United Kingdom, interim report, Institute for Public Policy Research, London p24 Available from: http://www.devolution.ac.uk/new_regional_policy_report.pdf [Accessed 18 April 2005] From the website of the European Union, Available from: http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/s24000.htm [Accessed 18 April 2005] debates about structural funds can become quite Kafkaesque. At one point, the government tried to argue that the Scots should be happy about losing structural fund designation, since this freed up funds for reallocation without reducing their overall budget. The Welsh, who ‘gained' in structural fund designation, found themselves without the necessary public expenditure cover and had to appeal to the Treasury”. Michael Keating, Devolution and Public Policy in the United Kingdom. [...]

[...] Therefore we underlined how the process of the European integration pushed towards “regional” government in the United Kingdom for political, economic and social reasons. The fact that there is no a well established system of administrative devolution for English regions is an important matter to seek regional governance due to unclear competences. However other numerous countries have faced up and still face a similar situation than the United Kingdom to develop regionally a country. Spain is a perfect example which has had to face regional particularism too. [...]

[...] English regions in Brussels depend directly of a Westminster representation which is a position as a state member. In order to give an example, take the South West region where there are revendications from Exeter against Bristol which controls the region, for different matters such as the regional financing . More over Cornwall desires a proper parliament. The belief over there that all problems would be solved thanks to a parliament is quite an utopia and depends much more to structural problems. [...]

[...] However the European Union does not force states to take such an organisation to deal with that particular situation, the sovereignty of states being still maintained. In the case of Scotland to respond to independence will numerous matters such as health, education and training, local government, social work, housing and planning, economic development and transport; the administration of the European Structural Funds, the law and home affairs including most civil and criminal law and the criminal justice and prosecution system; police and prisons; the environment, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, sport and the arts, research and statistics in relation to devolved matters; were given to the Scottish parliament to deal with. [...]