To understand fully the process of European integration, it is necessary to consider developments at the sub-national and local level. EU integration scholars have been examining the local level using the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) since the 1990s. While MLG was the first concept to scrutinize the position of local levels of public administration and other actors within the EU polity, it overestimates the degree of influence it ascribes to local levels, particularly as far as the rural is concerned. Focusing on Germany and Finland, with country specific information from all EU...