Local Government in Europe - The Fourth Level in the Eu Multi-Layered System of Governance (Electronic book text)

This book offers a comparative study of the structure of the local government in the countries within the European Union from a public law perspective. The book provides a detailed analysis of the stateoflocal governmentinfifteen Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and UK.In presenting such a wide-ranging survey, the book draws out the main trends of local government in Europe and outlines the elements of convergence and divergence between the Member States. The book also evaluates the impact of the European integration on the structure of the local government at national level, and argues that it is possible to view local government as the fourth level of the EU multi-layered constitution.