The Scottish National Party's changing attitude towards the European Union

Minority nationalist parties have been considered for several years as the most pro-European parties. However, the concrete evidence and more recent studies have demonstrated that not all minority nationalist parties support the EU and the European integration process and that many of them, over time, have often changed their European positions. This paper concentrates on the study of one case: the Scottish National Party (SNP). It can be considered as a typical example of minority nationalist parties that have adopted over time different European attitudes. The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors that explain the SNP’s changing position towards the EU. In order to do this, the paper examines the historical evolution of the SNP’s European positions and it particularly analyses the party’s transition from euroscepticism to euro-enthusiasm at the end of the 1980’s and its actual European position. Through the analysis of the different political contexts in which the party acts, the paper concludes that the SNP’s previous and present European policy and perspective can be understood more in relation to the “structure of political opportunities” existent in the past in the UK and presently in Scotland, rather than in relation to opportunities offered at the European level.