Coordination of EU policiy in the Netherlands and Belgium

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Issue Date
2017-04-26
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en
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Decentralization has been an important issue for governments in the previous decades. As most European countries are also a member state of the European Union, this also has consequences for the way in which national negotiation standpoints for the European level are established. The goal of this study was to describe, construe, and explain how sub national authorities are involved in European decision-making processes by the national governments in the Netherlands and Belgium via the coordination mechanisms of these countries, and how this has changed over time. Literature on Europeanization functions as the scientific foundation for this thesis. As the European Union became a political system in its own right, understanding the impact the EU has on the member states and their domestic policies, polities, and politics became important. As Member states are allowed to speak with one voice only at the European level, and more domestic actors are involved in decision-making, countries had to establish coordination mechanisms. These can differ on two dimensions: the coordination ambition and the level of centralization. This thesis aims at explaining the differences on these dimensions with domestic factors. To be able to do so, a comparative historical analysis has been conducted. With the help of policy documents, scientific literature, interviews and running records the changing relationship between national and decentral governments regarding European decision-making and EU policy issues have been investigated. Both in the Netherlands and Belgium decentral governments have gained more involvement in European decision-making. The coordination mechanisms have adapted to the participation of decentral actors in European decision-making. In Belgium, this has been the consequence of the federalization process that has taken place in Belgium since 1970. In the Netherlands, the central government has also decentralized a lot of policies in the last couple of years, and so the influence of decentral governments has grown. Several attempts have been made over the years to involve decentral entities in European decision-making. Important in this process was the establishment of Interbestuurlijke Dossier Teams where IPO, VNG and the national government work together. The territorial organization of both countries is completely different. As the Netherlands is a decentralized unitary state and not a federal state like Belgium, the power of the provinces and municipalities in the Netherlands will remain limited in comparison to the power the communities and regions in Belgium have.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen