Towards a 'third level' in Europe? The German Lander in the European Union

Since 1990 the German Lander have enjoyed unprecedented success in their longstanding quest to influence the European policy process. They were able to leave a clear stamp on the text of the Maastricht Treaty, to achieve domestic constitutional changes which secured for them a continuing and, in some fields, decisive role in the German European policy process, and to make significant progress in attracting regional 'allies' from other federal or decentralized member states. The effects have been to reduce the freedom of manoeuvre of the German central government in Europe, to deepen the complexity of European policy-making in both Germany and 'Brussels', and, arguably, to give fuller meaning to a 'third', sub-national level in EU affairs.