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The Rise of Regionalist Parties in Europe: Between European and Domestic Factors

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The Rise of Regionalist Parties in Europe: Between European and Domestic Factors S1916602 The Rise of Regionalist Parties in Europe: Between European and Domestic Factors. Name: Hans-Willem van Deursen Student Number: S1916602 E-mail: [email protected] Word Count: 15 000 Date: 15/06/2018 Supervisor: Dr. B. Shaev Second Reader: Dr. J. Oster 1 S1916602 Abbreviations ALDE: Alliance for Liberals and Democrats in Europe AC: Autonomous Communities CiU: Convergence and Union CJEU: Court of Justice of the European Union CoR: Committee of the Regions E(E)C: European (Economic) Community EFA: European Free Alliance ERC: Esquerra Republicana Catalunya EU: European Union EP: European Parliament FNP: Frisian Nationalist Party HRW: Human Rights Watch JxCat: Junts per Catalunya MLG: Multilevel Governance N-VA: New Flemish Alliance NOS: Nederlandse Omroep Stichting OECD: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development IO: International Organisation LI: Liberal Intergovernmentalism MS: Member State SEA: Single European Act SNP: Scottish Nationalist Party SA: Statute of Autonomy TEU: Treaty on European Union TFEU: Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ToM: Treaty of Maastricht QMV: Qualified Majority Voting 2 S1916602 Table of Contents Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1: Variables, Methods, and Cases ........................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: The Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 11 The Role of the State ............................................................................................................ 11 A Multilevel Federal System? .............................................................................................. 13 Chapter 3: Regional Mobilisation in the EU ....................................................................... 16 Chapter 4: Regionalist Parties and the EU .......................................................................... 20 Regionalist Parties and the EU: An Opportunity ................................................................ 20 The EU and Regionalist Parties: A Complicated Relationship ........................................... 23 Chapter 5: A Tale of Two Regions ....................................................................................... 25 Catalonia ............................................................................................................................. 25 A Brief Overview of the Catalonian Case ....................................................................... 26 Cultural Factors ................................................................................................................ 29 Political Factors ............................................................................................................... 30 Economic Factors ............................................................................................................. 31 Friesland .............................................................................................................................. 32 A Brief Overview of the Frisian Case .............................................................................. 33 Cultural Factors ................................................................................................................ 34 Political Factors ............................................................................................................... 35 Economic Factors ............................................................................................................. 36 Chapter 6: Discussion ............................................................................................................ 38 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 43 Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 44 Appendix A ........................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix B ........................................................................................................................... 52 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 57 3 S1916602 Abstract The process of European integration has created a multilevel federal polity in which regionalist parties can thrive. The European Union (EU) significantly reduced the cost of autonomy and independence for regions, as it provides a viable alternative to belonging to a central state. Consequently, regionalist parties are more viable in the eyes of the electorate. Moreover, the EU has created a space that Member States cannot fully control. These two factors have thus contributed to the rise of regionalist parties in Europe. However, this cannot account for the discrepancies in electoral success between regionalist parties across Europe. This thesis seeks to account for these discrepancies by analysing the relative importance of domestic factors on the rise of regionalist parties. In that pursuit, this thesis compares Catalonia and Friesland. In Catalonia, domestic factors provided the momentum for the rise of regionalist parties, but European integration made them viable. In Friesland, the opposite holds true. Domestic variables and, in part, European integration itself, inhibited the rise of the Frisian Nationalist Party. European integration is therefore only relevant in relation to domestic factors and vice versa. As such, only an integrated approach can adequately account for the rise of regionalist parties in Europe. 4 S1916602 Introduction On 27 October of 2017, the Catalonian regional government unilaterally declared its independence from Spain. Factual independence has remained an unfulfilled promise due to intervention of the Spanish central government. Nonetheless, the past year has made it clear that even though the electorate is split on the issue of independence, there is political will among some leaders in Catalonia to try and establish it despite the consequences (Dowsett). Although Catalonia has dominated the news of late, it is not the only region in Europe vying for more autonomy, or even independence, from their constituent Member State (MS). On the contrary, recent years have seemingly witnessed a rise in calls for increased autonomy by regionalist parties in Europe (Connolly "Secession" 52; Massetti and Schakel 59-60). This is evidenced by examples varying from the 2014 failed Scottish independence referendum, an attempt by the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) to devise a way to attain more autonomy for Flanders, the successful referenda for more autonomy in Lombardy and Veneto, and many others (Cerulus; Povoledo). These regionalist movements have drawn much academic and public interest, but studies generally explain these regionalist movements from “a variety of cultural and political economic factors” (Jolly 33). As such, scant attention is given to the influence of the process of European integration. That is not unsurprising, international relations theory generally tends towards a state- centric worldview. The primacy of the European states therefore also pervades EU politics. However, the Westphalian nation-state is increasingly challenged from “above and below,” with more sovereignty being pooled at the supranational level and more competences being dispersed to the subnational level through decentralisation (Chacha 206; Keating "Multilevel Federation" 626; Tatham and Bauer 1368). The pooling of sovereignty at the supranational level in particular has garnered much attention due to the increased politicisation of the European integration project. MS have transferred competences to the European level in policy areas that we traditionally ascribe to states. The combined effect of this and state decentralisation has therefore given rise to a multilevel European political sphere. In this multilevel system, the EU has become relevant for a host of actors besides the MS, particularly the regions ("Multilevel Federation" 629; Hooghe and Marks Multi-Level Governance). The emergence of a multilevel system has been substantiated by the increased activity of regions at the European level. This “regional mobilisation” is evidenced by the establishment of the Committee of Regions (CoR), the partnership principle in European regional policy, the notion of subsidiarity, and the increase of regional offices in Brussels 5 S1916602 (Groenendijk 22; Evans 223). The inclusion of the principle of subsidiarity, which states that political decisions should be taken as closely to the citizens as possible, in particular formed the “intellectual underpinnings” in the 1980s and 1990s of a so-called ‘Europe of the Regions’ (Evans 223-4). Ultimately, this idea has largely been “discredited,” but it is clear that European integration has
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