The regions and Europe: against the Nation states?

The European union counts over 90 000 local and regional authorities which, all different by their political, geographical and economic structures, represent the expression of a genuine identity of their own. As a result to the implementation of devolution policies all over Europe over the past forty years – especially in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – the EU has experienced a rise of movements claiming a regional identity. Those regionalist movements are nothing but different in their ideologies and claims which range from the will of a complete separation to the mere defense of the peculiarities of their identities. The rise of these regionalist parties has occurred while the Union was busy managing the three latest waves of enlargement in 2004, 2007 and 2013 and further deepening the process of integration, which resulted in the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. To many, this treaty provides a great understanding of the claims of the regionalist cause.

In the wake of electoral victories and the development of pivotal political events such as the referendum on Scottish independence, regionalist parties have recently been at the center of great news coverage.

Our paper attempts to analyze to what extent the European process of integration has contributed to the emergence of these regionalist movements within the Member states along with the likelihood for the region to become the reference entity across the Union.

The European Union: an opportunity for the empowerment of regions?

On the one hand, the process of European integration has participated to the weakening of Nation States by organizing a transfer of powers from Member States to the community institutions. The wide range of transferred powers extends nowadays from the monetary to the foreign policy. The Regional and Cohesion policy of the EU has also helped to strengthen the economic and political weight through the subsidiarity principle.

On the other hand, the EU integration and enlargement processes have appeared as incentives for the development of regions. The absence of any sort of European identity as an alternative to the weakening of national ones has led individuals to retrenched to their regional identity. The influence of the regions within the European decision-making process has also been reinforced through a better representation of their interests both in the European parliament and the Committee of the Regions whose remits has been extended ever since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty

Regionalism and Independence: how to apprehend the position of an independent Scotland within the EU?

On September 2014, Scottish people will be called to the polls to vote on a referendum proposing the independence for Scotland. According to the polls, 40% of the voters say they are in favor of the independence, while 45% oppose it. The remaining 15% of undecided

voters represent a winning target for both political camps. Among many other issues, the future statute of an independent Scotland, within the European union, has become central during the referendum campaign. While the Scottish National Party used to be a great opponent of the European integration, it seems now to have changed its position in response to the fierce anti-European feeling of the successive Tory administrations and a feeling a frustration inherited from the effects of Westminster’s overwhelming control on European affairs affecting the whole United Kingdom. Some experts have also seen this U-turn as a strategy for the SNP to reassure voters with a more pragmatic way to apprehend the future of an independent Scotland.

The European Treaties do not provide any legal framework in regards to the statute of a new state, which would have seceded from an already existing Member state of the Union. The partisans of an independent Scotland affirm that the EU would have no solution but to integrate the new country within the Union therefore guaranteeing the respect of the democratic principles set out by the Founding Fathers. Most of its opponents however, claim that just like every other candidate country, Scotland would have to go through the article 49 TEU integration proceedings, which foresees a unanimity vote in the Council.

Catalonia: the European identity as a rhetorical device

One can say that the use of the « European identity » in the discourse of the Catalonian nationalists serves two objectives: on the one hand it allows them to differentiate themselves from the Spanish nation-state; on the other hand it helps them to legitimate their engagement at the European level.

One of the most important parameters of this discourse is history. By using the historical perspective Catalan leaders have tried to valorize both the ancient roots of the Catalan organization as well as its continuity until today. The Catalonian organization has therefore emphasized Catalonia's European characteristics to reinforce the cohesion of its discourse and use the EU as a platform of action. In response, national elites in Madrid have decided to grant certain degrees of administrative autonomy and cultural recognition combined with a stronger assertion of the Spanish national unity.

Ever since the negotiations of the Maastricht treaty have given an important amount of prerogatives to the local level, Catalonia has tried to present itself a European leader of the regionalist cause and has become an important initiator of trans-regional European cooperation. Many examples of trans-regional cooperation have aptly shown the mobilization-capacity of some dynamic European regions, acting at the European level as a regionalist lobby and opening up new possibilities for their respective regions.

Regionalism in Italy – the Northern League and Padania

The most important regionalist party in Italy is the Northern League. Having its roots in several minor regionalist movements of northern Italy it is today fighting for the independence of the fictitious region Padania. Represented in the current European Parliament by nine MEPs, their main aim at the European level is to give more power to regions and to limit the competences of the EU – seen as a supranational and bureaucratic structure. Its discourse is based on questions of identity and sovereignty as well as socio-economic interests

and an anti-elitist ideology. This discourse, however, has been subject to change since the foundation of the Northern League in 1989. In our analysis we came to differentiate between two main phases: the first being mainly intra-national positively depicting the EU as a structure helping northern Italy to get integrated in the global economy and to fight the national elites in Rome; the second representing an anti-European populism of identity and economic protectionism – a stance many different parties all over Europe have taken over the recent years of economic crisis.

The Northern League represents an exception among most of the other euro-sceptical parties, as it has not always been an anti-European party. Being one of the oldest parties in the euro-sceptical alliance, it showed its capacity of opportunistic and strategic change in its positions - from pro-Brussels and anti-Rome to anti-Brussels, pro-national and regional sovereignty – while being able to keep its and increasing its traditional electorate.

Perspectives on European governance: the region as the reference entity within the Union

Many initiatives are possible to boost the influence of the regions within the European Union. It is far from being unimaginable to foresee an improvement of the representation of their interests through a further expansion of the CoR’s remits in order for the institution to be able to make binding decisions. Also, the regions could further develop their strategy of “cooperative regionalism”, setting up new partnerships across the Union to better advocate their interests and raise their political and economic influence among the other stakeholders of the community structure.

On a more institutional perspective, many MEPs have fought over the past 15 years to implement a reform proposing a unique ballot across the Union in regards to the European Parliament elections. This initiative consists in imposing a territorial organization based on regional constituencies on the Member States. Even if no agreement has been reached on this reform yet, MEPs have made the pledge to take into account the regional interests of their constituents more systematically in order to legitimize their mandate and bridge the gap between Brussels and european grassroots.

The European union has undoubtedly contributed to the rise of regionalist movements within its borders. The regions are yet to be granted with a strong and binding political weight, but they have already found ways and means to make their voices heard across the Union through a genuine representation of their interests. It is nowhere disputable that the institutions of the European Union are increasingly taking into account the interests of local and regional authorities. This top-down evolution may definitely contribute to reducing the democratic deficit within the Union.