Local authorities and the governance of the single market : Aggregate report September 2011

Given the importance of local authorities in the overall governance of the Single Market and in view of their proximity to the EU citizens, the Directorate-General for Internal Market and Services (DG MARKT) wanted to engage them in discussion with the following objectives in mind: - To identify potential areas of improvement of the EU policy making process. - To let local authorities suggest ideas for strengthening the Single Market. The method used for this survey was in-depth interviews across all 27 EU Member States with two target groups: elected representatives and senior employees (chief executives or similar high level executive staff) from a range of local governmental authorities. - 5 interviews in each Member State with elected representatives from a range of local and government authorities. - 9 interviews in each Member State with senior employees (chief executives or similar high level executive staff) from a range of local government authorities. All respondents had to be responsible at a local level for implementing EU policy or regulating economic activities in the town/city