The Administrative Europeanisation of Local Governments: A Matter of Mainstreaming

Abstract

European integration poses multiple challenges for local governments, including the implementation of EU law and the free movement of businesses and labour migrants. In this article, we develop a novel understanding of local administrative Europeanisation, defined as the organisational adaptation of local governments to European integration. Existing studies tend to examine organisational aspects—such as the presence of an EU unit—in isolation, without offering a comprehensive conceptualisation of how these aspects are interrelated. Moreover, local governments' Europeanisation is often categorised using Peter John's ladder, which ranges from EU law implementation to lobbying at the EU level. Empirical research shows, however, that local administrative Europeanisation does not necessarily proceed along these sequential rungs. Responding to calls in the Europeanisation literature for the use of general concepts and theories, we conceptualise local administrative Europeanisation as a process of mainstreaming—that is, the integration and normalisation of European issues across relevant policies, actors and governing practices. We identify the interrelated components of mainstreaming that capture its extent, including knowledge and framing of Europe, strategic choices regarding adaptation to European integration and organisational capacities to embed the European dimension of politics and policies throughout the entire administration. Building on these components, we propose a new categorisation of local governments' administrative Europeanisation based on phases of mainstreaming, ranging from ad hoc responses to European integration to treating Europe as a self-evident and integral part of local policies and governing practices. The seemingly erratic patterns of local Europeanisation identified by the ladder approach can be better understood by focusing on the underlying organisational logic of mainstreaming. Local administrative Europeanisation can thus be examined more comprehensively and accurately as a matter of mainstreaming.