Municipalities in the European Multilevel Union Administration: Towards Multi-Hatted Local Governments?

Research focusing on the impact of the European Union (EU) on its member states has over the past couple of decades been increasingly oriented towards describing the numerous organizational couplings that emerge at the intersection between national and supranational levels of governance. A rich literature describes how national administrations become embedded into an emerging European multilevel administration where those parts of national administrations implementing and practicing EU-related legislation develop a dual role in that they simultaneously serve a national and a supranational “center”. To what extent and, if so, how, local governments are implied by similar organizational couplings has however been far less studied. Seen in light of how local authorities are responsible for effectuating a number of policies that emanate from decisions taken at higher levels of governance, including the EU, it is relevant to ask whether municipal bureaucracies also form part of a European multilevel administration. Employing a project design combining insights from political science and law, MIMAS investigates how Norwegian and Swedish municipalities adapt to the EU. Based on an analysis of the formal legal couplings between the EU and municipal bureaucracies, MIMAS reveals how municipalities are formally embedded into a common European administrative area that creates opportunities, but also limits, for local autonomy. Aided by surveys and case studies conducted among municipal bureaucrats at both central and sector (environment and public procurement) levels, MIMAS investigates how municipalities adapt to a European multilevel administration and what characterizes local work on EU-related questions within the context of this multilevel structure. MIMAS finds that adaptation towards the EU has entailed relatively few organizational changes. One development in this respect is however the emergence of local EU advisors, a new breed of local administrative officials, whose main function include serving as a link between the municipality and relevant transnational collaborative platforms, particularly related to EU-financed projects. Norwegian and Swedish municipalities alike are involved in various networks and participating in EU-related projects forms a key staple in the municipalities’ connection to the EU system. In these projects municipal bureaucracies take part in collaborations that are also directly linked to the EU institutions and the projects often revolve around areas and activities regulated by EU law. In this respect EU projects form part of a multilevel structure linked to the implementation and practicing of shared legislation. Practicing of legislation thus forms a key part of the municipalities’ work on EU-related questions, and MIMAS has investigated what characterizes local practicing of EU/EEA legislation. Inspired by previous research focusing on national bureaucrats, MIMAS has investigated what signals and considerations are assigned weight when EU/EEA-related legislation is practiced locally and how conflicts between different considerations are resolved. A main finding is that the municipal bureaucracy strives to balance different concerns when conflicts arise between the demands emanating from EU/EEA law and wishes or expectations from different local and national stakeholders, however, particularly high emphasis is placed on legal compliance, which illustrates how municipalities are embedded into a European multilevel administration. By anchoring the analyses in this perspective on multilevel administration, MIMAS sheds new light on the involvement of municipalities in EU affairs and how the EU implicates local bureaucracies. MIMAS unpacks how municipalities become embedded into and subsequently form a local branch of an emerging multilevel European administration. Within this structure there is, however, also considerable scope for local autonomy, and the municipality is just as much an “actor” as an “agent” in the EU system. In that respect, MIMAS also contributes to the multilevel administration literature’s emphasis on the role of center formation by showing how local EU work not only implies that municipal bureaucracies become exposed to a European center, but also how local nodal points have emerged, for instance in relation to EU-projects, where larger municipalities link up and coordinate smaller neighboring municipalities.

MIMAS has aspired to build knowledge, raise awareness and challenge existing ways of thinking about the role and function of the sub-national level within the context of the European Union, with implications for both the scholarly community and practitioners. Firstly, MIMAS has contributed to the literature on EU governance by conceptualizing sub-national bureaucracies as forming part and parcel of a multilevel EU administration and illuminating the range of activities and processes unfolding at the intersection between local, national and trans/supranational levels of governance. Secondly, MIMAS has connected to the practitioner community and a wider public audience, by communicating results directly to key stakeholders, as well as arranging public seminars disseminating results from the project. MIMAS has thus contributed to raising awareness both in the scholarly community and among practitioners of the significant role played by the local tier of government in an evolving multilevel EU administration.

The project deals with current developments in the EU multilevel union administration, in which administrative bodies located across different levels of governance are becoming increasingly interlinked in the implementation and application of EU legislation. A key finding has been that the relevant national actors are becoming "double-hatted", serving both national and supranational principals. Although subnational authorities have been at the center of much research on EU multilevel governance the last decades, the ground-level practices and implications of their embedding into EU multilevel structures are scantly understood, despite the fact that municipalities are increasingly involved in the implementation and practicing of EU legislation. This project aims at developing new knowledge regarding how municipal authorities implement, coordinate and practice EU legislation. It links vertical implementation studies to horizontal impacts by illuminating how European multilevel administration relates to and affects municipal autonomy and local government. Based on a comparative study of municipalities in two countries - Norway and Sweden - and two sectors - public procurement and environmental/climate policy, the project aims to examine to what extent, how and why, municipalities are organized into a multilevel union administration. We ask how they practice EU legislation, how they coordinate betwen municipal, national and EU principals and how the potential embedding into a multilevel union administration impact on local autonomy and the territorial structure and coherence of municipalities, as well as the nation-state. Combining political science and legal perspectives, the project employs both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to elucidate the role and function of municipalities in the EU multilevel administration.