Emelyne Cheney *

European Integration and Minority Nationalist Mobilisation in France

I. Background Th e EU provides a new context for minority nationalist parties, not only to conceive their long-term political project, but also to organise their mobilisa- tion. New institutional and representational opportunities have emerged from multilevel European politics through, for example, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the EU Regional Policy. Th is chapter looks at the impact of European integration on minority nationalist mobilisation in France. Th e French position on internal diversity—still largely infl uenced by Jacobinism—is emblematic of the tensions existing between minority nation- alism and the concept of nation–state. Th is makes it a valuable “hard” case to assess the signifi cance of the EU for minority nationalist contestation in member states. Evidence gathered from three political parties in Brittany, Corsica and the Northern Basque Country shows that minority nationalists in France have found it diffi cult to participate in European politics and to access the European political space. As a result of a lack of institutional recognition and parliamen- tary representation, they are constrained to operate exclusively at the local level. Consequently, and unlike many minority nationalists in Europe, none of these parties have conceived the EU as an alternative to their relations with the French state and/or fully reformulated their demands in accordance with the European level. European integration has nevertheless entered the strategic considerations of minority nationalists in France, albeit to diff erent degrees. Unlike what could be expected from their trans-border identity, Northern Basque nationalists have perceived the least opportunity in Europe for their mobilisation. Several elements are put forward to explain Abertzaleen Batasuna’s (AB) position, among them the fact that the party does not mobilise in an institutionalised region. Th e regional

* Emelyne Cheney obtained a PhD in European Studies from the LSE in November 2009. Her thesis was on the Impact of European Integration on Minority Nationalist Mobilisation in France. She now works as a consultant at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

European Yearbook of Minority Issues Vol 9, 2010, ISBN 978 9004 22934 1. pp. 167-187. © 2012 Koninklijke Brill NV. Emelyne Cheney status of Brittany and Corsica has involved both regions in the European policy- making process and this is why European resources have proved valuable to the Union Democratique Bretonne (UDB) and the Unione di U Populu Corsu (UPC). In the end, however, the comparison of the Breton and Corsican cases shows that the value of Europe as a strategy is contingent on the level of exclusivity that minority nationalists can claim on the European issue within their local political spheres.

II. Introduction France is where the Jacobin theory of assimilation originated and has had its fullest expression, and the resulting conception of the French nation still proves diffi cult to reconcile with the accommodation of regional diversity. Th e French govern- ment has not allowed any departure from the principle of the indivisibility of the nation, rejecting all group distinctions. Recognising the existence of minorities or granting collective rights is perceived as a contradiction in terms because French democracy rests on citizen’s equality before the law. Consequently, France has not ratifi ed any of the international documents of minority protection, including the key European standard setting documents in this area, namely the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (EChRML). Domestically, French authorities have been reluctant to respond to claims of regional specifi city, fearing that granting minorities a right to self-government would lead to separatism and jeopardise France’s territorial integrity. Th e Jacobin concept of the nation–state has also had implications for the nature of the French politico-administrative system, which is still one of the most centralised in Europe. Although decentrali- sation reforms have taken place since the 1980s, they have remained modest in the actual empowerment of subnational actors in the face of the state. In many respects, the French position is emblematic of the tensions existing between minority nationalism and the concept of the nation–state. Th is makes it a useful case to explore the linkages between European integration and minority nationalist mobilisation—two phenomena challenging the concept of nation–state as a sole basis for identity and sovereignty. All over Europe, political actors have emerged, defi ning themselves as “nationalist” and demanding a political right to self-government based on claims of territorial, historical and cultural specifi city. Th e EU provides a new context for minority nationalists, not only to conceive their long-term political project, but also to organise their mobilisation. New institu- tional and representational opportunities have emerged from multilevel European politics, through, for example, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, and the EU Regional Policy. Th e integration of “respect for and protec- tion of minorities” into the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership,1 as well as

1 Gwendolyn Sasse, “EU Conditionality and Minority Rights: Translating the Copenhagen Criterion into Policy”, EUI Working Paper, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (2005), No.16.

168