Nationalist Contradictions In Europe

City Journal ^ | June 29,2016 | Theodore Dalrymple

[OddLane]

All the current nationalist parties of small nations in Europe—the Scots, the Welsh, the Basque, the Catalans, the Flemish—strongly support membership in the European Union, which is dedicated to, and even predicated upon, the extinction of national sovereignty. One would have thought that these parties wanted, at a minimum, national sovereignty. The contradiction is so glaring that it requires an explanation.

The human mind is not a perfect calculating machine, and no doubt all of us sometimes contradict ourselves. Perfect consistency tends to be disconcerting—but so does glaring inconsistency.

It’s possible that the nationalist parties’ leaders don’t perceive the contradiction, being so blinded by ideology that they are simply unaware of it. But another possible explanation exists: by leading their nominally independent countries, they forever will be able to feed at the great trough of Brussels and distribute its largesse in true clientelistic fashion. The nationalist leaders certainly lead their people, but by the nose.

[BitWielder1]

Scots hate London more than Brussels.
They figure EU could force London (and Germany) to hand more cash to Scotland and they'll be fine with it.
Similar sentiments for the others who want nationalism but not true independence, plus an unhealthy reliance on large government socialism.
It might work for any one of them but not all at once, like all pyramid redistribution schemes, it must break down.

[OddLane]

I wonder if Nicola Sturgeon has asked Alexis Tsipras how friendly the EU is too super-left wing governments.

[OddLane]

"...like all pyramid redistribution schemes, it must break down."

Exactly. The idea that the EU would have survived, but for the UK, is as absurd as the Communists who blame Gorbachev for destroying the Soviet Union.

As if there wouldn't have been another catalyst to the implosion of an economically non-viable institution eventually.