Direct Concern in Regional Policy: The European Court of Justice and the Southern Question
European Law Journal, 2011
Posted: 17 Nov 2010
Date Written: November 16, 2010
Abstract
For a few years the European Court of Justice has declared inadmissible, for lack of direct concern, a number of annulment actions initiated by sub-state actors in the context of regional policy. This article compares the ECJ’s holdings to the General Court’s more generous application of the "direct concern" standard in some of the same disputes, and argues in favor of the General Court’s approach. The recent cases hereby analyzed pertain to the implementation of structural funds in Southern Italy. Relating regional policy to the historical unfolding of the "Southern Question" (a term that has identified Italy’s economic dualism since its political unification in 1861), this article examines the unexpected opportunity for civic and administrative renewal brought by regional policy to Italy’s South in the late 1990s, and links standing for sub-state actors to the long-term realization of that opportunity. It further argues that a more direct judicial involvement with territorial policies would prompt taxonomic renewal in EU law as a discipline, as well as clarity about the EU’s impact on welfare matters.
Keywords: European Court of Justice, regional policy, Italy, Southern Question, judicial standing, EU Law
JEL Classification: K39, K41, K49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation