Military

DATE=11/09/00

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=EUROPE DEVOLVING

NUMBER=5-47355

BYLINE=ED WARNER

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Spanish police have arrested a group of suspected Basque terrorists in the wake of a bombing in Madrid that killed a supreme court judge and two associates and wounded sixty other people. It was the latest attack by an organization blamed for some 800 deaths in its effort to win independence for its region of Spain. This is the violent fringe of a European trend to greater autonomy for local areas that emphasize their traditions and distinctiveness. Does this mean the end of the European nation-state, as some fear? V-O-A's Ed Warner reports the views of two scholars who say compromise is possible between the claims of states and restless regions.

TEXT: Five-hundred years ago, the map of Europe was a bewildering maze of city-states, duchies, bishoprics and nation-states in the making. The nation-states ultimately prevailed, giving Europe its present-day look. But now they are endangered by a strong trend back to the localism that once flourished.

All over Europe, people are rediscovering their roots, their local languages and customs, and groups are seeking to gain political standing and autonomy, even separation from the mother state. Two states have emerged from the former Czechoslovakia: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Belgium is considered almost divided into parts: the French speaking Walloon and the Dutch speaking Flemish.

Blame it on good times, says William Hagen, Professor of History at the University of California at Davis:

/// HAGEN ACT ///

Prosperity, education, the creation of new well-educated middle classes among regional minorities has given them voice, particularly in a setting of liberal democracy where they have an option to cultivate their own local identities. It is very difficult ideologically to say they should not do this.

/// END ACT ///

They do it in different ways - peacefully and lawfully in most cases, violently in a few. Separatists in the Basque area of Spain and on the French island of Corsica have resorted to murder and various forms of intimidation to achieve independence, despite ample concessions from the central state.

Emilio Viano, Professor at the School of Public Affairs at American University, says Europe is heading in two directions at a time of general peace.

/// VIANO ACT ///

It is natural that regional identities that were long suppressed in the past by the power of the central state are going to resurface and reclaim the ground and form a viable mechanism for people to obtain the services they need at the local level, while Brussels - the European Union - will gradually become the central government of Europe, providing the major other needs.

/// END ACT ///

Professor Viano says power is thus flowing from the nation-state both to the European Union and the regions. This requires considerable dexterity on the part of the state, if it wishes to survive more or less in its present form.

Those that appear to be succeeding offer a degree of autonomy, along with sympathy and respect for local regions.

The answer is federalism, sharing power with the regions, says Professor Hagen. In this respect, the United States serves as a possible model.

/// HAGEN ACT TWO ///

Germany, for example, is a country that has always had very strong federal traditions. Obviously, the Federal Republic of Germany today is a decentralized state in extremely important ways, and it works quite well for them and does not prevent Germany from being a national state.

/// END ACT ///

Professor Hagen notes that Britain seems to be handling the resurgence of Scotland and Wales with some finesse. Even highly centralized France has established new local governments with their own budgets. It is estimated that regional authorities now make the decisions on 70-percent of public works spending in Europe.

Nowhere has the movement toward federalism been more intense than in Italy's prosperous North, says Professor Viano.

/// VIANO ACT TWO ///

In the North, there has been a substantial movement, if not to secede from Italy, to force Italy to become a federal country; to recognize that there are substantial regional differences and interests, and therefore to move from being a centralized state, based on the typical nation-state model, to a federation that in a way recognizes an agreement between equals.

/// END ACT ///

The movement has its underside. Many of the impassioned regions are wealthy and not inclined to help poorer neighbors. Bernard Poignant, mayor of Quimper in France, told the Christian Science Monitor: "Regional pride can become a retreat, a refuge from others."

It can quickly turn xenophobic, leading to resentment of immigrants and the kind of violence experienced in Corsica, which is also fed by criminal activity. When passions exceed a certain level, as in Yugoslavia, devolution can result in open warfare.

But local pride is here to stay and must be accommodated, say analysts. It will change the nature of the state, in many ways for the better. Power sharing is preferable to power monopoly. (signed)

NEB/EW/TDW