"Attempting to By-Pass the State to Empower the Periphery: An Examination of the Strategy of Catalan Political Elites to Gain Direct Access and Recognition in the European Union"

Abstract

[From the introduction]. In December 1991 the European Council approved the Maastricht Treaty creating the European Union. One of the less publicized components of this treaty was the creation of a Committee of the Regions to advise both the Council of Ministers and the Commission on specific issues. Therefore, while Maastricht made the headlines because of the unprecedented transfer of state initiative to a larger political organization, it also increased substantially the potential for an accelerated transfer of political initiative to regions. This paper will examine the Catalan case as an example of how regional political elites are using European organizations to push for a major change in the position of regions not only within the emerging European Union, but also within their respective states