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 Westminsters 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 CoRs 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. I t 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.