‘Independence in Europe’ Seen by EU Institutions

Recent years have witnessed to the growth of secessionist movements/parties, which pursue the political objective of ‘independence in Europe’. The essence of this project would be that the region they (claim to) represent gains full independence from the member state to which it currently belongs and at the same time (or immediately after) become a new member-state of the EU. However, recent experiences in Scotland and Catalonia, beyond restating the difficulty of achieving the first step of the project (i.e. gaining independence from the ‘host state’), also raised serious issues about the second step (i.e. becoming a new EU member-state): Would EU institutions ever accept a new member-state that is a splinter from another member-state? Do EU institutions have a settled/principled view on this question or are they likely to change their stance depending on which specific case is presented? Are there important divisions amongst EU institutions, particularly between intergovernmental and supranational ones? Are there important divisions within the major EU institutions? The paper presents some preliminary findings based on key EU documents and the extant literature; as well as proposing a research project that tries to address all those interrelated questions.