From a “formalistic” point of view the Regions are and have been neglected (especially in the past) in the EU law context. To express such a situation the German constitutional lawyers used the formula "Landesblindheit" (legal blindness towards the territorial subnational entities). This is confirmed in the Treaties (specifically in Article 10, ECT), where it can be seen that the subjects of the Community legal order are the states, as holders of the duty to collaborate with each other, which is instrumental for guaranteeing the effectiveness of the supranational law. It could well be argued that this “regional carelessness” constitutes just one “element” of the democratic deficit of the EU. Starting from a “broad” concept of the democratic gap (i.e. focused not only on the question of the EU Parliament’s powers) we can in fact conceive the absence of a strong legal status for the Regions as one of the most important “constitutional wounds” of the EU.
download