Regional Presence in the EU: A Qualitative Study of Regional Offices’ Activity in Brussels

All Norwegian Counties are represented in Brussels and engaged in different activities in the EU. This thesis investigates the Norwegian and Swedish regional offices in Brussels based on two overall perspectives on European integration: State-Centric versus Multi-Level Governance. The thesis asks the question of how membership and remoteness affect how regional offices work and interact at the European level. To answer this, the thesis analyses the overall theoretical perspectives concerning two factors: Regions from EU member states and non-member states, and regions from the metropolitan area versus regions from the peripheral areas of Sweden and Norway. Interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders to provide information about the regional dimension in the EU and the Swedish and Norwegian regional offices’ activity at the EU level. I tested the theories through preconceived hypotheses based on the two above-mentioned factors. The empirical analysis demonstrates that regional advocacy in Brussels varies greatly. The informal route to the EU still gives room for regions to operate autonomously at an EU level despite the states’ affiliation forms. Furthermore, the thesis finds that the EU clearly has a multi-level structure and that the Centre-Periphery dimension is therefore not necessarily relevant for studying regional activity in Brussels