Region (Europe)
The European Union created a Committee of the Regions to represent Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation-state level. The Committee has its headquarters in Brussels.
Reasons given for this include:
- the historic and cultural claims for autonomy in many regions all over the EU
- strengthening the political and economic situation in those regions
The term 'region' as used here includes Wales and Scotland, both of which are non-sovereign countries within the UK; they are recognised as countries by the UK government and are not referred to as 'regions'.
Some nation states which have historically had a strong centralized administration have transferred political power to the regions. Examples of this include the devolution of power in the UK (the Scotland Act 1998, the Government of Wales Act 1998) and the current negotiations in France concerning increased autonomy for Corsica. Some other states have traditionally had strong regions, such as the Federal Republic of Germany; yet others have been structured on the basis of national and municipal government with little in between.
Read more about Region (Europe): Competence, Political Influence
Famous quotes containing the word region:
“The Heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge. The distance of Venus, the atmosphere of Mars, the size of Jupiter, and the speed of Mercury. All this and more we know. But their greatest mystery the heavens have kept a secret. What sort of life, if any, inhabits these other planets? Human life, like ours? Or life extremely lower in the scale. Or dangerously higher.”
—Richard Blake, and William Cameron Menzies. Narrator, Invaders from Mars, at the opening of the movie (1953)