European perspective

Through the analysis of Regulation 1082/2006 (also known as ‘The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation’), which enables regional and local authorities from different European Union (EU) countries to set up cooperation groupings as legal entities for projects of cross-border and trans-European significance, this article aims to assess whether the daily politics of the EU is still state driven in a zero-sum game, and conversely, whether states and state representatives are no longer the only interface between the sub-national and supranational levels and the operation of power across the various levels of governance on a local/national/supranational level in a nonzero-sum game.

The article will show that a type of ‘multi-level governance’ is emerging in cross-border regions in which cross-border activities are empowering the regional/local level (sub-national level), permitting it to circumvent/supersede the national level through a process of negotiation and ‘alliances’. Furthermore, it will be highlighted that Regulation 1082/2006 is a clear example of multi-level governance in practice.