Pragmatic nationalism in Europe: the N-VA and the new Flemish approach to Europe

• Main Author: Sandrina Ferreira Antunes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Liège Library 2010-01-01
• Series: Fédéralisme-Régionalisme
• Online Access: http://popups.ulg.ac.be/1374-3864/index.php?id=938

Since the 1990s, Europe has been depicted as the most privileged political arena for ethno-regionalist parties to enhance regional autonomy. Along with the advent of the principle of subsidiarity, Europe seemed to dissolve sovereignty enabling regional actors to prosper in a context where regional independence could eventually be reached. In spite of these powerful political ambitions, with hindsight, we have finally realized that Europe can only provide the ‘elements of usage’ for ethno-regionalist parties to deploy a pragmatic strategy intended to strengthen their legitimacy to govern at the regional level. Based upon a pragmatic notion of nationalism and on a concept of usage of Europe, in this paper, we will demonstrate how the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (the N-VA) in Flanders has been able to use Europe since 2005 to regain political legitimacy to govern.