National Regionalist Party Discourses in the Turbulent Years of Europe: 30 Years after Europe of the Regions

บทคัดย่อ

National regionalist parties have been pursuing territorial-based interests and representing local voices at the different levels of decision making. Since the 1970s, they have benefitted from the European integration with its resulting multi-level governance and new opportunity structures, while chanting Europe of the Regions as a rallying concept. Noting the three recent major challenges, namely migration, terrorism and the rise of the extreme-right, this article seeks to examine how party discourses in regards to the EU among the national regionalists have evolved between 2014 and April 2018. It studies the change in the discourses of three moderate national regionalist parties and a region, i.e. Plaid Cymru of Wales, Femu a Corsica - Pè a Corsica of Corsica, Christian Social Union of Bavaria and Västra Götaland region – the four regions representing the four EU member states that have undergone the three major challenges most severely. In light of this, the article employs Slocum’s and Van Lagenhove’s conception of identity as discourse and adapts Tierney’s three main constitutional aspirations to examine the status and the aspirations of the national regionalist parties. The comparison shows a divergence in their responses to the recent developments. The article argues that the parties are forced to rethink their strategy and reframe their primary focus, particularly aiming their immediate agenda at the state, thus the continued fading of Europe of the Regions. The lack of local forces and identity explains the little change in the perception of Västra Gotäland on the EU. The determining factors are internal; Brexit dilemma for Plaid Cymru, unification of Corsican nationalists for Femu a Corsica - Pè a Corsica, rise of AfD and euroskepticism for CSU, and state-led regionalization for Västra Gotäland. Nevertheless, it is also argued that the change in the party discourses seems to be a temporary pause to concentrate on what is at hand.