The role of regions in the European Union. The Catalan nationalist movement and the idea of the 'Europe of the regions': a way to bypass the nation state?

Abstract

The concept ‘Europe of the regions’ refers to the idea of regional and local authorities becoming one of the main actors in the EU, in co-existence with, and in a more radical view, to the disadvantage of nation states. As the Catalan nationalist movement declared independence from Spain in 2017 and hoped for EU’s support, this movement could have been fuelled by this idea, seeing it as a way to bypass the nation state. In this research, I will investigate how the idea of a ‘Europe of the regions’ has empowered the Catalan nationalist movement. Regions in the EU developed gradually from economic areas into political actors, which resulted in the establishment of the Committee of the Regions in 1994. The Catalan nationalist movement indeed saw the EU as a ‘window of opportunity’, in which the region hoped to establish direct representation with the legislative powers in the EU. Support for independence within Catalonia began to grow in the 2000s and during this period, Catalan leaders asked the EU for backing. Although the EU institutions developed the political role of regions in the EU and therefore has empowered the nationalist movement’s ambition, the EU institutions constrained the movement at the same time: It became clear that the nation states in the EU could not be bypassed. The EU institutions would therefore best be suited in the concept of the ‘Europe of the nations’, although regions gained greater representation in the EU.