INTERNATIONAL
immigration and security.” On that point,
the EU, with its haphazard response to the
2015 refugee crisis, can be said to have
helped the N-VA.To Flemish nationalists,
“the EU has failed in the discussion on im-
migration and terrorism” and thus “the
idea of defending identity and defending
borders has become stronger in Belgium
and Flanders,” according to Carl Devos,
professor of political science at Ghent
University. The N-VA speaks of a “failing
European Union,” calling for firm laws on
immigration as necessary to protect Flem-
ish identity, history, and values.
There are times when more Europe can
be a solution to national questions – the
open border between Austria and Italy has
made the Südtirolfrage less important.
Support for the EU is especially strong in
the Northern Irish border counties, which
resent the potential return of checkpoints
to the Irish Republic. On the whole, though,
the EU has either proved a tremendous fil-
lip – consider how Cornwall benefitted
from funding to improve infrastructure
and promote its culture – or a usual foil for
separatist movements.THINK CONTINENTAL
In the case of Scottish nationalism, in the
late 1980s the SNP made a tactical
decision to evolve from an anti- into a
pro-European party. In part, this had to do
with defining themselves against English
nationalism, which remains hostile to
Europe, but also as a defense to “charges
from Labour and the Conservatives that
they were an isolationist, ‘little Scotland’
party,” said Torrance. “To be a member
state of the EU made independence seem
less scary, more realistic and achievable.”
For Milorad Dodik, president of the
Republika Srpska region of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, criticism of international
institutions, including the EU, has helped
him sustain his popularity and the cause of
ethnic Serb separatism. In Belgium, the
N-VA has found it politically useful to usemore “Euro-realist” rhetoric, arguing for
the repatriation of certain powers and
joining the Eurosceptic, anti-federalist
European Conservatives and Reformists
grouping in the European Parliament.
As for Catalonia, “Spanish membership
in the EU has not been able to prevent
nationalist delirium,” said Espada,
“despite the fact that Catalonia has always
boasted of being the most pro-European
region in Spain. “However, membership
makes it impossible to consummate
secession. Breaking [up] Spain would be
to break Europe.” Indeed, though much de-
pends on turnout and the margin of victo-
ry, do not expect either Spain or Europe to
budge much on the issue of Catalan
independence.
“The problem is that the maximum
Madrid is prepared to concede is too little
for Barcelona,” Dowling concluded. On the
critical political and economic questions,
“the situation is stuck, and at some point,
something has to give.”In the late 1980s, the Scottish National
Party made a tactical decision to evolve
from anti into a pro-European party.
While Scotland, Catalonia
and the Republika Srpska
(pictured counter-clockwise
from left) seek outright
independence, South Tyrol
(pictured in the center)
basks in a special status
that affords them liberties
and favorable conditions
within Italy.