Is Cross-Border Governance Emerging over the Border between Italy and Slovenia?

Abstract

The paper analyses the implications of cross-border activities on patterns of integration and governance in cross-border-regions following the implementation of EU cross-border co-operation programmes and Regulation 1082/2006 (i.e. European Grouping of Territorial Co-operation). It focuses on cross-border governance between Italy and Slovenia. It investigates the impact on the governance of the border by emerging and strengthening regional actors. First, it offers a brief theoretical background on the meaning of ‘border’ and ‘cross-border governance’ within the EU. Second, it investigates whether a type of transnational governance is emerging in cross-border regions, in which cross-border activities are empowering the regional-local level and permitting it to circumvent/supersede the national level. It will be shown that EU cross-border co-operation programmes are transforming the operation of power across the various levels of governance on a local/national/supranational level.

Keywords:

• Regulation 1082/2006
• citizenship
• multi-level governance
• cross-border cooperation
• sub-national actors

Notes

¹ The ‘zero-sum notion game’ refers to a decision-making approach where one actor wins while the other loses. Considering two actors, A and B, if A wins 5, B loses 5, and the sum is zero. Conversely, a ‘non-zero sum notion’/‘positive-sum notion’ means that in a two-actors game, gains and losses are not necessarily equal. Thus, it is possible that both sides may gain (Viotti & Kauppi, 1987).

² 301,338 km²; approximately 60 million of inhabitants.

³ 7,856km²; 1,000,300 inhabitants of which approximately 80,000 are Slovenians descendants.

⁴ 20,273 km²; about 2 million inhabitants, of whom approximately 3,000 are members of an Italian minority.

⁵ Decentralized and quasi-federal in the case of Italy, ‘newly centralized’ in the case of Slovenia, while Friuli-Venezia-Giulia is an autonomous region of Italy enjoying a special statute.

⁶ The former has been responsible for the management of Interreg III (and nowadays Interreg IV) programmes, and their joint implementation (Interact, 2007). It is a super-partes body which represents equally all the actors who participate in Interreg and it is completely independent with regard to its operational and financial management functions from the state (Interact, 2007, p. 10). The latter also is a super-partes institution and it represents all the actors involved in the programme.

⁷ Interviews with Slovenian and Italian officials, representing national (Italy, Slovenia), local (in the case of Slovenia, which is still lacking a regional level) and regional authorities (in the case of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region) NGOs, cultural associations and business organizations.

⁸ Interviews with Italian regional officers and Slovenian national officers between 2007–2011.

⁹ Interviews carried out between 2007 and 2011.

¹⁰ Interview with S. D'Eredità, Project Manager of Informest, 4 February 2010; interview with E. Svab, President of the Euroservis, Trieste, 10 January 2008.

¹¹ Interview with an officer from the Regional Development Centre in Koper, 2009, who wished to remain anonymous.

¹² Interview with D. Pur, Director of the European Territorial Co-operation Department, 8 March 2011.

¹³ Interviews carried out in Slovenia and Italy between 2007 and 2011.

¹⁴ Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Veneto, Carinthia, Istria and the Costal-Mountain Region Croatia—Slovenian representatives were not present at this meeting, as will be explained afterwards.

¹⁵ Their reasoning was that Italy did not ratify the two added Protocols of the Madrid Convention, which would have allowed this to happen.