La politica internazionale delle autonomie locali. Un contributo per una «diversa» storia dell’integrazione europea

The International Politics of Local Authorities. A Contribution for a «Different» History of European Integration

This essay is the result of a ten-year study and deals, from a historical perspective, with the relationship between the local authorities, the European integration process, and international relations.

In addition to providing indications and perspectives for new research, it shows how the international relations between the municipalities, a long-term historical factor, regained strength and awareness after World War II thanks to the jumlages, a formula invented by members of the French federalist movement,

La Fédération, which resulted in culturaladministrative exchanges and a strong political commitment to the construction of the United States of Europe. The European local authorities and their associations, in particular the Council of European Municipalities (CEM), were also the promoters of original solutions during the process of European integration, such as the creation of an Institute for European Municipal Credit, which eventually failed due to the opposition of the national bureaucracies, or the activation of the European Commission of Local Authorities under the Council of Europe, whose model can be viewed as the forerunner of the Council of Regions and of other organs of the European Union.