Abstract
The two processses of European integration and regionalisetion have developed considerably over the last few decades. As the EU develops further, also the regions will be increasingly affected by the Europeanisation process. This thesis studies the relationship between Europeanisation and executive dominance at the regional level in Spain, focusing on parliamentary involvement on EU-related issues. This links the study to two major questions in debate and research on the present and future EU. Firstly, it is linked to the question of how the integration process might contribute to political and institutional transformation in the member states in general, and in particular at the regional level of government. Secondly, it is linked to the question of democracy in the EU. Executive dominance is emphasised as a core element of the democratic deficit which the integration process is often claimed to entail.
Two Spanish regions, Catanbria and País Vasco, are made the objects of case analysis and case-oriented comparison. A theoretical framework consisting of an interest-based and a neoinstitutional perspective is used, seeking to understand both the extent to which the Europeanisation process contributes to executive dominance at the regional level, and whether this is a tendency around which different regions converge. The interest-based perspective is linked to a logic of consequence. It expects executive dominance to arise as a result of altered power relations between the regional parliaments and executives to the detriment of the former. This leads to an expectation of convergence in terms of executive dominance in the Spanish regions. The neo-institutional perspective is linked to a logic of appropriateness. It emphasises the institutional tradition of the specific region when approaching the question of executive dominance. This opens up for aspects which may potentially counter-act executive dominance, and thus, for a potential situation of divergence. In the context of this thesis, the potentially intervening element is institutionalised regional identity.
The weak parliamentary involvement on EU-related issues in the case of Cantabria appears to indicate that Europeanisation does contribute to executive dominance, but both perspectives seem to add explanatory value. From an interest-based perspective, there seems to be a redistribution of relative power to the benefit of the executive. From a neo-institutional perspective, the situation is seen as linked to the fact that the region does not possess an institutionalised regional identity, and this seems to explain the weak parliamentary involvement. The level of involvment appears to abide by standards of appropriateness. The case of País Vasco, however, does not reveal the same patterns of executive dominance. As framed here, the interest-based perspective does not seem to offer the necessary tools to understand this situation. The neo-institutional perspective approach does, however, offer an explanation. The presence of an institutionalised regional identity in this region seems to mean that a situation of executive dominance would run contrary to standards of appropriate parliamentary involvment in the region. This modifies the impact of the Europeanisation process in a way that counter-acts executive dominance. Furthermore, the concluding chapter compares the two cases, and the neo-institutional perspective also offers an explanation of the resulting situation of divergence with regard to executive dominance in the two regions.