The first regional office was opened in Brussels by Birmingham City Council in 1984. This was followed by several other British local authorities and a number of the German Länder, or states. The aim of these offices is to represent regional interests in Brussels. Since then, the number of offices has grown to 317. Some of the regions, such as the German Länder, are powerful entities in Brussels, with imposing office buildings and a large staff.

The different regional offices have been set up with different aims in mind. The German Länder see their role as a political one; their aim is to represent the German states as distinct political entities. Their British counterparts, on the other hand, are normally more concerned with obtaining subsidies under the structural funds.

Whereas the German offices represent powerful bodies operating with sizeable budgets, the British regional offices represent local authorites which have only a limited amount of political power and money. Their aim in setting up a Brussels office is to obtain EU funding, often working in partnership with the private sector. Most regional offices in Brussels are based on the German model, though the British approach has also had an impact.

The different representations have their own structures which are largely copied from the institutional models in their home countries. Although these are informal bodies, they are recognised by the European Union as partners to be consulted.  

The creation of regional offices is basically the result of two different processes at work in the EU. The first is the growing need of interest groups to gain a voice in the European Union. This process has led in recent years to the development of a powerful lobbying sector, making Brussels, with an estimated 15,000 lobbyists, the second most important lobbying centre in the world, after Washington.

Regions have been forced to evolve into independent bodies that can lobby like any other interest group. This has had a definite impact on the role of representations in Brussels.

The second process affecting regional representations is the increasing impact of European integration on regional and local issues. The following events represent significant milestones in this evolution:

•  July 1987: the Single European Act: this represented an important step in the development of a clear regional policy by expanding the role of the EU to cover regional development. Under the Single European Act, the EU took on a wide range of responsibilities including the environment, social policy, R&D and industry. Many of these matters were already dealt with in the member states at a local or regional level. The reform of the structural funds, which happened soon after the Single European Act (Delors II Report, 1988), acted as a catalyst in this process. Several regions (including Catalonia, the Basque Country, Brittany and Wales) were quick to open offices in Brussels to protect the flow of funds to their regions.

• January 1993: the internal market is created: regional and local governments are involved in this process.

• November 1993: the Treaty of Maastricht: this reinforced the regional dimension in the process of European integration by introducing the principle of subsidiarity, setting up the Cohesion Fund to support the least well-off regions, creating the Committee of the Regions (established in 1994), and allowing for the representation of regional governments in the Council of Ministers (now the Council of the European Union). The federal states of Germany, Austria and Belgium have all obtained representation in the Council under this provision.

The Treaty of Maastricht and the creation of the Committee of the Regions led to a spate of new regional offices opening in Brussels in the period 1992-94. This trend has continued up until the present day, with a second peak of activity in 2002-03 largely caused by the arrival of the ten new member states.

The number of regional offices increases whenever the European Union expands. The recent EU expansion led to the opening of a large number of Polish offices representing regional and local authorities. Almost every region in Poland now has its own office in Brussels.

The richest and most powerful regions are often the first to open offices in Brussels. But countries with a weak regional structure are also keen to open a Brussels representation. This is seen in the case of France, where all but two regions have offices in Brussels, reflecting the growing strength of the regions in French national politics. The Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries likewise have strong regional representations in Brussels.

On the other hand, highly centralised countries such as Ireland, Portugal and Greece have virtually no regional representation.    

The largest presence is at the regional level – the level immediately below the national state. However, a growing number of offices have opened to represent capital cities and large European municipalities.  

The main role of liaison offices in Brussels is to channel information to and from European institutions and regional governments. As a result of the EU’s policy of transparency, most official policy documents are now readily available. But networking is increasinggly important in Brussels –  much of the information on projects and policy direction circulates through unofficial channels, which is why it is important for a city or region to be present physically in Brussels, rather than relying on offical statements or emails.

The regions of Europe are mainly interested in the policies, programmes and principles of the European Union. They particularly want to know about policies connected with social cohesion, regional development, R&D, agriculture, environment, energy and transport. One of the crucial roles performed by regional offices is to gather and disseminate information. They also try to influence EU policies, gain EU subsidies and take part in European transnational networks.

The various Belgian regions are all involved in this process. The main actors are Flanders Region, Wallonia Region, Brussels Region, the French Community and the German Community.  

The creation of regional offices in Brussels was a direct response to the process of deepening EU integration, which led to new opportunities at a local and regional level. The regional authorities were basically sucked into to Brussels as a result of EU policies.

This development has occurred at a time when many countries have been going through a process of decentralisation and growing local autonomy. As a result, many countries (both member states and candidate members) decided at a certain moment that it was in the national interest for these new decentralised bodies to open a regional representation in Brussels.

More information

The Brussels Free University (VUB) has carried out a detailed study (in Dutch) into local and regional representation in Brussels: Vertegenwoordigingen van lokale en regionale overheden bij de Europese Unie, Michel Huyssene and Theo Jans, 2005.  Study VUB Region offices.pdf.