Sinn Féin and the European Arena: 'Ourselves Alone' or 'Critical Engagement'?

Abstract

In 2004 Sinn Féin succeeded in getting its first MEPs elected to the European parliament, with victories in both Northern Ireland (Bairbre de Brún) and the Republic of Ireland (Mary Lou McDonald) alike. Standing on a platform of 'critical but constructive engagement' with Europe, the successful candidates were representatives of a party that has significantly modified its policy on Europe over the last three decades. At the time of its creation, Sinn Féin adopted a position of outright hostility to the EEC (which included a refusal to even take part in European elections), based upon a 'traditional nationalist' conception of what European integration meant. By the time of the 1984 European election, participation at the European level had become conceivable, yet this approach co-existed with an essentially unchanged Euro-scepticism throughout the remainder of the decade. It was only in the 1990s that the party's underlying attitude to Europe underwent significant change and began to more clearly resemble the policy as it stands today. The evolution of this policy, in itself noteworthy, also reveals much about the broader development of Sinn Féin, as the party has successfully negotiated its passage from the margins to the political mainstream.