„EMBASSIES” FOR REGIONS: REPRESENTATION OF POLISH VOIVODSHIPS IN BRUSSELS

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is the analysis of the organizational forms, functions and activity of the Brussels offices of Polish regions as well as an attempt to evaluate their effec-tiveness. The presence of subnational authorities representations dates from the mid-1980s. At the moment over 300 regional offices are present in Brussels. They represent all the Polish regions. Polish regional offices are public initiatives, mainly being part of regional governments. They do not enjoy diplomatic status, but they are a kind of paradiplomatic „embassies” of their regions. The main functions of the offices can be summarized in five areas of activity: information man-agement, networking, providing liaison between regional authorities and the EU, influencing of the EU policy, and the promotion of Polish regions. The activity of Polish regional offices is evaluated ambivalently. The most frequent questions concern the usefulness of their establishing and the commensurability of their maintenance costs with the results of their work.