ABSTRACT
The rise of regionalism in the United Kingdom owes much to the influence of European politics, including the emergence of stronger regional governance frameworks, for example in France, Denmark and Portugal, and the role of the European Union (EU) and European Commission in promoting the cause of regionalism. For much of the past two decades the European Union has been promoting greater political and economic integration between regions within Europe, working in ways which transcend national boundaries. The Commission’s promotion of the concept of a ‘Europe of the Regions’ has been particularly important, politically acting as a means for it to work directly with local and regional governments rather than through their national governments, involving an approach based more on subsidiarity than on sovereignty.
