Region (Europe)

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The European Union created a Committee of the Regions to represent Regions of Europe as the layer of EU government administration directly below the nation-state level. The committee has its headquarters in Brussels.

Reasons given for this include:

• the historic and cultural claims for autonomy in many regions all over the EU
• strengthening the political and economic situation in those regions

Some nation states which have historically had a strong centralized administration have transferred political power to the regions. Examples of this include the current negotiations in France concerning increased autonomy for Corsica. Some other states have traditionally had strong regions, such as the Federal Republic of Germany or the autonomous communities of Spain; yet others have been structured on the basis of national and municipal government with little in between. During the United Kingdom's membership of the EU, the term 'region' also included England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are formally referred to as countries by the British government.