The European Elections According to a Young Catalanan
David Bassa*
That no European at all feels any direct link or feels affected by the European elections is an obvious fact. Indeed, it’s enough to look to turnout (not just the important widespread failure to vote in the last elections, but also previous elections generally) to see this. But that political and/or emotional lack of interest regarding all the institutions of the Union is stronger among the inhabitants of the “stateless” nations, such as Catalonia.
The reason is very simple: the European Union is a union of states. That it’s the way it has been until now, and that it they way it will continue, because the new treaty for the Union (“European Constitution” is a misnomer) leaves this unchanged, and actually enhances the state-based structures. In fact, most important European debates revolve around the amount of power that this or that state should have, and never go further. Consequently, if for Spanish, German or French people the European Union is something abstract, Catalan people see the European Union as a hostile structure. In a nutshell, although Catalonia has traditionally been a Europeanist country geographically situated as a wedge between France and the Iberian Peninsula, and although Catalonia has always been open to the sea and its past is intrinsically Mediterranean, Catalans still don’t feel that the European Union is something really positive. We could also say that if Spain as a state is a member of the Union that is partly thanks to Catalan political will. Castella has never been pro-European, usually the opposite.
But, in spite of all of this good-will towards Europe, Catalonia has no role in the “Europe of the states” because it is not a state. That’s the reason why young Catalans with political and national consciousness who are ignored as a part of a nation by the Union, don’t sense that they have any link with European institutions. Consequently, Catalan voting in the European elections has been lower than Spain’s, and also, I would suggest, the new Treaty won’t be easily accepted or supported in Catalonia. This is absolutely logical.
There is a further important aspect to underline concerning Catalonia and the European elections: the campaign. PP (Partido Popular) and PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español), the most important Spanish political parties – which are also represented in Catalonia - built their campaign on domestic policies, each criticizing the other. That’s the way it was during the early pre-campaign period and also during the fifteen days of the campaign itself. Given the important media presence of both PP and PSOE, as Spain’s biggest political parties, the result was a media campaign with a very clear message: what really counts is domestic policy, not European policy. Or in other words: what matters is not what we can do for Europe, but what Europe can do for us. That’s the reason all references to Europe coming from “popular” and “socialist” politicians concerned financial assistance for poorer areas and the advantages Spain could obtain with a greater number of representatives in the European Parliament. Catalans were therefore effectively excluded from the debate.
Such a panorama made my friends and myself rather sceptical about voting. We were on the point of not voting ourselves. But finally, we decided to vote for the coalition led by the Catalan independence party “Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya” and by the Basque country’s pro-independence “Eusko Alkartasuna”. Doing so was an emotional act, because we knew it could have no practical consequences. These parties won a single seat out of a Parliament of hundreds. Despite this, we still voted for them for two main reasons: firstly, to feel at peace with ourselves trusting a coalition which supports the idea of a different Europe, and secondly because, anyway, a seat is a voice that may be heard every so often in the European Parliament. Maybe just four lazy deputies will listen to the speeches of that lonely voice, but those four deputies are four consciences who may become aware that there are some nations without a state who are claiming their right to be an active and a recognized part of the European Union.
Barcelona, June 26th 2004
* David Bassa in a journalist at the Newsroom of Televisió de Catalunya (TV3-TVC). He previously worked at the news services of TVE and several local newspapers in Catalonia.
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