Jeannine Plamondon and Dr. Danny Damron, Kennedy Center for International Studies

The European Union (EU) was created to bring European countries together, but could it also have the effect of breaking countries apart? This was the question I chose to evaluate for my research. I worked as an intern with the Scottish National Party (SNP), a political party seeking independence for Scotland from the United Kingdom, in the European Parliament in Brussels Belgium. On the European level, the SNP combines with other independence-seeking parties from various minority nations across Europe, such as the Catalonians and Basques in Spain, the Welsh in the United Kingdom, the Flemish in Belgium, etc. Together these parties form the European Free Alliance, which works to protect and promote the rights of minority nations in Europe and seeks independent country status for their regions.

While in Brussels, I observed and assisted Ian Hudghton, President of the Scottish National Party in his duties as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). I assisted public hearings and press conferences in the Parliament on the rights of minority nations, followed EFA’s legislative efforts to protect minority languages, and observed the European Parliament’s debate on the peace process between the Spanish government and Batasuna, the Basque independence-seeking political party. I also attended the Scottish National Party annual conference, where the SNP kicked-off its election campaign for the parliamentary elections (which the SNP later won, now forming a minority government in Scotland). All of these experiences led me to conclude that the European Union and the associated European integration process does not quash independence movements, but rather encourages them.

I discovered that the European Union helps independence-seeking groups in six main ways. First, the EU provides funding to regional authorities through cohesion policy and structural funds. This funding allows Scottish authorities, for example, to by-pass the central government of the United Kingdom and receive funding directly from the EU, reducing the amount of leverage the London government has on Scotland and giving Scotland increased economic independence. Second, The European Union provides institutional representation for minority groups in the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions, where independence-seeking groups can represent their interests at the European level. Third, the European Union provides a forum for cooperation between independence-seeking groups through Europe-wide political parties such as EFA, as well as lobbying organizations that seek the interest of European regions. Fourth, the European Union gives more leverage to independence-seeking group in domestic politics by allowing them to appeal to a higher level of authority and promote a safer independence strategy: “independence within Europe.” Fifth, the European Union ameliorates the central government’s treatment of independence-seeking groups through normative pressure and conditionality. Normative pressure refers to pressure countries feel to conform with EU standards in terms of the rights of independence-seeking groups. Conditionality refers specifically in this case to requirements for EU accession. New member states of the EU are not allowed to become a part of the union until they improve their treatment of minority groups and reform laws that are discriminatory to minority nations. Sixth, the European Union helps independence-seeking groups by discussing issues affecting these groups at the European level and stating opinions regarding the treatment of minority nations.

Through my research I also found that the European Union will continue to play a role in the aspirations of independence-seeking groups and will most likely expand its role or influence in three key areas. First, the EU will likely adopt a more inclusive official languages policy that takes into account languages that are not official languages of particular countries. Some steps have already been taken in this direction, mainly by providing for translation for speakers of Basque, Catalan, and Galician Spanish. Second, the Committee of the Regions is likely to gain more influence in EU decision-making. Third, European judicial institutions are likely to begin dealing with human rights violations against minority groups as a whole, as opposed to simply individuals.

I presented my conclusions in a twenty-page research paper, which I submitted for my capstone seminar under Professor Becky Larsen to complete my requirements for a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. I also presented this paper at the University of California – Claremont Undergraduate Conference on the European Union, where I received a Best Paper award. My paper was published with other top papers at the conference by the European Union Center of California. The European Union Center of California also awarded me with a full scholarship to the Jean Monnet International Summer Seminars on the European Union, hosted in Italy by the University of Rome Tor Vergata and the Free University of Bolzano, which I attended in June 2007. At this seminar I met outstanding students in PhD and Masters programs from all over Europe and the world. I was also able to learn about the European Union from top EU scholars, practitioners, diplomats, and politicians. I also recently submitted my paper to the BYU Journal of International Internship Research. I am now studying Law at McGill University in Montreal and will continue to build on the knowledge I have gained through my ORCA research by studying EU law as well as international law of human rights.