Dagli Stati nazionali all’Europa L’azione per la rappresentanza degli enti locali europei

From nation states to Europe. The action for the representation of European local authorities

Abstract

The essay retraces connections and influences running between EU local authorities representatives – in particular Umberto Serafini, the historic leader of their movement –, Altiero Spinelli and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. For that matter, Giscard was president of the Convention and at the same time president of the Council of European municipalities and regions (CEMR), the most important organisation gathering European local authorities. Unlike the Rome Treaties, the constitutional texts proposed by Spinelli and Giscard adopted most of the institutional features suggested by local authorities, as for instance, in Spinelli’s case, the acknowledgment of the necessity to provide the European system of an institutional body representing them. A request which will later result in the establishment of the Committee of the regions (COR).