Do regional parties matter? : factors of activity of euroregions In The European Union

The article tests the hypothesis on the relation between the presence of a strong regionalist party in regions of the European Union, which are the parts of Euroregions, and the activity quality of these Euroregional unions. The paper also analyzes the role of other factors of Euroregions' cooperation such as the presence of governance institutions, the level of interpersonal trust, and perception of socio-economic differences between Euroregions' members. The theory is tested on data for 162 Euroregions of the European Union. The results show that the presence of a strong regionalists party at least in one region which is a part of the Euroregion significantly increases the odds of the latter being active. Another significant factor of the Euro-region's activity is the adoption of the status of the European group of territorial cooperation (EGTC). More-over, the significant factor of the Euroregion’s activity is the number of members, which signed an agreement establishing a Euroregion. It is notable that a higher number of Euroregion's members increases the odds of it being active. At the same time, the level of interpersonal trust and perception of socio-economic differences among Euroregional members don't affect the diversity of Euroregional activity.