Committee of the Regions: in search of identity

This article sets out to explore in greater depth one of the most controversial cases of institution-building in the European Union, that of the Committee of the Regions (CoR). Within the framework of a wider debate on the nature of multi-level governance established in the EU and the role of regions therein, the research effort has been concentrated on understanding where the institutional path of the Committee lies, being flanked on one side by a strong demand of some regions for political representation, and the advisory function required by the decision-making institutions on the other. The article argues that, in spite of some persisting difficulties that the Committee continues to face when delineating its own space in EU politics, the CoR has found an essential equilibrium between the interests it represents and the pressures from its inter-institutional environment. This has permitted the Committee to gain a more distinctive position, not only in terms of major competences in EU policy making but also, more in general, in the perspective of its entrenchment within the institutional architecture of the EU governance.