Europe in Union

With Britain's involvement with the European Court of Human Rights seemingly assured for this parliament at least, one major reason for European discord has been removed. But don't be fooled into thinking this will mean Europe in Union.

You see, Europe has many reasons yet to squabble with itself. The first are the so called 'P.I.G.S', the geographical European fringe states that are embroiled in a sovereign debt crisis. In particular Portugal, Ireland & Greece. Between them these nations have taxpayers and sovereigntists up in arms about the fortunes being spent on bailing these nations out of their financial difficulties.

Furthermore, the EU continues to limp on with a puzzle of treaties, agreements and legislative chambers that overlap and confuse, a lot of this thanks to the constitution that never was. With different nations signing up to different groups and legal structures and borders and currencies, Europe has become a series of alliances within alliances; borders and disputes, and nations within nation-states.

And each of these are caught in the struggle between the nation-states, who have found themselves to be emerging as a middle-man, and the local-continental separatist struggles. Nation-states are struggling to make their case for the continuance of sovereignty of the kind that has lasted for more than a century.

In Scotland the Scottish National Party have gained a majority in their devolved parliament (Carrell, 2011) and in the Basque Country Bildu, a coalition of Basque separatists have gained an impressive 25% of the vote in recent regional elections (Tremlett, 2011). These results are symptomatic of a recent turn towards localism and continentalism over the traditional broader nationalism that brought about conglomerate nation-states. Nation-states such as Britain & Spain who hold within their borders a number of distinct ethnic & cultural identities with a common past.

However, populist politics is driving wedges into countries and forcing these internal nations into the arms of the European community. Austerity measures are being felt by the poorest and the poorest have been out in force opposing them, in Britain, in Spain, in Greece and in France. The governing parties where comprehensively rejected in Scotland, with independentists the preferred choice.

Between the stringent economic policies of nation-states and the possibilities for a small national community as a sovereign state within Europe, it is unsurprising that separatism is making strides. The European Union's sheer size offers a broad jurisdiction within which financial regulation can act, that has struggled to be effective and been unsatisfying to the public in states such as the UK. When combined with localised self-governance it can be seen that the EU has the potential to offer self-determination as well as solidarity to members.

So what are nation-states to do? It seems that:

+ Firstly, nation-states need to find an effective means of enforcing regulations and the ensuing penalties on globalised institutions, such as big business & high finance; all that within their extremely limited jurisdictions.

+ And secondly they need to find a way to answer calls for greater local involvement in the running of countries, in order to manage the localised calls for sovereignty are an expression of a wish for greater powers of self-determination.

If nation-states are going to compete with the advantages that the European Union could be able to offer in time, for local self-determination & a jurisdiction wide enough to enforce regulations; they need to start making their case now.

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References:
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+ European Court of Human Rights
 Le Rouge Journal's 'Are British Rights worth more than Human Rights?'; May 2011;

+ Severin Carrell's 'Salmond hails 'historic' victory as SNP secures Holyrood's first ever majority'; May 2011;

+ Giles Tremlett's 'Spanish voters head to the polls, as city square protests continue'; May 2011;