ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the developments outlined in the case of France. It argues that the Defferre reforms were important in facilitating the ‘Europeanization’ of French regional policy-making. The chapter outlines briefly the principal features of the 1982 regional reforms and explains their importance in providing an institutional core around which regional socioeconomic interests have been able to coalesce. It explores the growing relevance of European Union (EU) legislation for French regional authorities since the mid-1980s. The chapter examines in more detail the representation of French regional interests in the EU policy process, the French regional lobby in Brussels and the participation of French regional governments and groups in transnational regional networks. The reforms also granted regions a primary role in the formulation and implementation of the national economic plan. EU structural fund reforms also specified two new guiding principles of EU regional policy, partnership and additionality.
