Has the Creation of the EU unintentionally led to more demands for regional autonomy?

[lakechampainer]

I don't draw any profound conclusions from the vote to ban bullfighting in Catalonia, but I do find it interesting. Attached is a Deutsche Welle opinion piece and a Deutsche Welle news article on the story.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5846669,00.html

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5844647,00.html

[Andy H]

Originally Posted by lakechampainer

I understand it is probably a hypothetical issue, and obviously it doesn't affect my life, but I've often wondered if the regional movements breed resentment in the "other areas": for example, Scotland has regional powers including its own Parliament, yet it still can influence, potentially decisively, which party rules in Great Britain, which laws can pass, etc. Likewise with Quebec. It seems like there are potential conflicts of interests in these systems.

Hi

In England there is a growing resentment towards not Scotland as a nation or a people but towards the ruling politcal party, the SNP. The SNP blame every failure on the English/Westminster parliment, whilst anything good is because of the SNP in the Scottish parilment. Well polticians being politicians some would say.

However we have in the UK with our Scottish kin a strange anomoly called the West Lothian Question. More detail can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Lothian_question
but basically it refers to the fact that whilst members of the Scottish Parliment (as well as those from the NI Executive & Welsh assemblies) can vote on laws that mostly affect England, no memebers of Parliment from the English counties can vote on Scottish affairs where the powers have been devolved.

Scotland has instigated some very popular social laws, such as free perscriptions for drugs, free eye tests and free dental work. However though free to the Scottish, the English are paying some very step charges for these services, and some would argue that its the English who subsidise the Scots to several Billion pounds per year even after the much vaunted North Sea Oil and Gas revenue is taken into account.

There are growing voices from the English, that rather than wait for the Scottish to vote for Independence (a SNP core value), that the English should vote them out before that comes to pass

Regards


Andy H

[Heidi]

Any thoughts?

Yes,I do.

Do you see nothing wrong with this?
Is the UN and u really looking after the Europe's welfare?

The commitment to effective multilateralism, with the United Nations (UN) at its core, is a central element of the EU’s external policy. This commitment is rooted in the conviction that to be able respond to global crises, challenges and threats, the international community needs an efficient multilateral system, founded on universal rules and values.

[Listy]

One thing to consider in all this discussion is the Signal to noise ratio. The internet has made the call for independence , from even small numbers of people thunderously loud, which may well give the appearance of more demand than there actually is.

[Andy H]

Originally Posted by Listy

One thing to consider in all this discussion is the Signal to noise ratio. The internet has made the call for independence , from even small numbers of people thunderously loud, which may well give the appearance of more demand than there actually is.

Hi Listy

Thats a valid point.

Even in some of the most trivial 'news' items, the news channels are looking for the other arguement, and on many occasion I have seen them wheel out what can only be described as a one trick pony. They then compound matters by giving them some blown out of proportion title, with the word expert tagged onto it.

Regards

Andy H

[lakechampainer]

Story in Der Spiegel about the how the German speaking region of Italy has done well during the economic crisis.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...713438,00.html