Catalonia, Scotland, South Tyrol, Veneto, Lombardy, Corsica...
Secession or autonomy? Europe of nations or of regions?
Reading and discussion
Sabine Gruber, writer
Francesco Palermo, Director, Institute for Comparative Federalism Research, Eurac Research,
Bolzano and University of Verona
Werner A. Perger, Journalist
Moderation Lorenz Gallmetzer, journalist and author
Catalonia, South Tyrol, Veneto, Lombardy, Corsica, Flanders, Scotland - calls for more autonomy or even self-determination have flared up in many regions of Europe. At the same time, political movements are gaining strength that are once again opposing the EU unification process with the strengthening of national interests. State, nation, ethnicity, region - are centrifugal tendencies jeopardising Europe?
This raises the fundamental question of the advantages of secessionist processes. Since there are no ethnically, linguistically and culturally homogeneous regions, new minorities would be created immediately. Italian speakers in a new „German South Tyrol“, French speakers in Flanders, Castilian-speaking Spanophiles in Catalonia and so on. After all, who are the people?