The Voice from Below: The Committee of the Regions and EU Democracy

Despite widespread scepticism about the actual influence of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on EU decision-making, this chapter argues that the CoR makes a fundamental contribution to EU democracy by proposing policy ideas, activating other institutions, assessing policy implementation and monitoring the quality of EU democracy. While conventionally political influence is understood as the power to make or oppose decisions, this article proposes a more deliberative notion of political influence as the power to shape policy-making through the production of policy ideas and on-the-ground knowledge of the problems connected with their implementation. Drawing from empirical evidence collected during a decade of research, this article argues that the CoR has overcome the many cleavages that characterize its membership and contribute a fundamental ingredient of democracy: the voice from below.