Module 3: Governance in a multi-level Europe

The purpose of this module is to demonstrate the effect of the EU on the different levels of European politics. Up to this point, we have focused mostly on the supranational elements of the European Union. This module will go beyond this level of analysis and deepen your understanding of the EU’s multi-level nature.

This module traces the aspects of European governance that cross the different levels of the EU polity and characterise the EU’s ‘multi-level’ nature. The main objective will be to demonstrate how the EU is able to enact governance that effectively bypasses the nation state and directly affects EU citizens.

The module will be set out as follows. The first section will address the concept of government and governance in the European context. The second section will look at subsidiarity, illuminating the nature of subsidiarity in the EU and addressing some of the issues it raises. The following section of the module will assess the EU’s regional policy, addressing what the regional policy is, how it functions and how sub-national actors are able to access the regional policy’s funds. The fourth section will demonstrate the effect of EU law on local citizens and the officials of national and local governments.

Finally, we shall take a light hearted look at some of the myths regarding EU legislation.