By passing a law granting autonomy to the Mediterranean island of Corsica, France may have shown many nations how to heal divisions. Paris’ hope is that the step will bring an end to the ten-year campaign of separatist violence on the island.
Corsica’s separatist aspirations are mirrored elsewhere in Europe, where Basques, Catalans, Irish Republicans, Scotsmen, Bretons and Welshmen are all seeking a greater independence. This sits oddly in a Europe whose leaders are busy trying to bring the continent closer together. Indeed, it can be argued that the unswerving attempts by Brussels to homogenize every aspect of Europe, from its currency to its food hygiene, has acted as a catalyst for renewed attempts by many European communities to differentiate themselves.
The British government, with its ambiguous approach both to the single currency and further political integration, reflects an enduring suspicion among UK voters about the direction that the EU is taking. Prime Minister Tony Blair warned his fellow heads of state in Brussels that the EU Commission’s desire to control vast swathes of everyday life runs the risk of undermining public confidence in the organization and its institutions. He spoke of a "democratic deficit", a neat term to underline the weakness of the European Parliament in the face of the huge power of the EU Commissioners. But is the European Union capable of reversing the attitudes and methodology with which it has become used to working? Indeed, will the Eurocrats in Brussels willingly surrender a jot of their immense power? The problem remains that Euro-enthusiasts are driven by a vision, which is underpinned by the need to avoid any repeat of the national rivalries that have allowed Europe to tear itself apart, again and again, over the centuries.
However, in driving this vision forward, without the overwhelming support of the ordinary European citizen, be he within the Arctic Circle in Finland or basking in the Mediterranean sun of Crete or Corsica, there is a very real risk that the divisions will be widened, not healed.
Now, therefore, seems to be an excellent moment to make a key adjustment to the way that the EU conducts itself. If Brussels embraces the regional differences which have manifested themselves so strongly in recent years, it may very well short-circuit the groundswell of support that the separatists are attracting. Without Brussels insisting that its writ must run unaltered on every square inch of the European Union, there will be no barrier against which the separatists can push.
Europe will, therefore, become not so much a federation of nation states, as a federated patchwork of communities within those nation states, in which everyone is permitted, even encouraged, to glory in the differences that set them apart from everyone else. Any less flexible approach will surely undermine the very foundations upon which the European vision is built.
History shows that, over the centuries, communities have abandoned separatist attitudes and come together peacefully, for their mutual benefit. This process of evolution has in general produced bonds that have been the stronger for being accepted voluntarily. The message which Brussels should be taking on board is that Europeans cannot be coerced into unity.
