Verena Boos

Scotland and Catalonia are important regions in Europe and at the same time historic European nations. Their populations have a strong sense of nationhood, combined with multiple identities in the framework of the respective nation-states. In both nations the struggles for self-determination have achieved results, albeit at different points in time and in very different historical settings. In both nations, the indigenous press is an important agent in the formation of public opinion. For this study, press discourse provides the vehicle of access to wider Scottish and Catalan debates which reflect the entangledness of regional, national, and European levels of affiliation. Before the background of European integration and the new international order after 1989, and of regionalism and minority nationalism in Europe, this study examines the positions taken by the press towards the European project from, the moment of entry to the EC up to the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty which founded the European Union. It analyses the pertaining discussions of collective identity and investigates how they have ultimately contributed to the European discourses on the emerging union.