Recently-published map stirs controversy; some see an “under the radar” attack on national sovereignity

Kent in union with Calais? The West of England partnered with the Biscay coasts? Northern Scotland, Iceland, and Northern Norway as one?

To anyone with more than a scant knowledge of European geography and history, this seems a little mad. But it seems to be the plan in a new geographical rationale advanced by Germany, who will take the EU presidency this coming year.

According to a map published in the UK’s Daily Mail ([1] and viewable if you surf to the article via this link) the new frontier rationale is meant to support an EU project called Interreg, which aims to “foster cross-border cooperation on such issues as tourism, trade, health, and the environment”, also apparently leading to harmonization of mapping, with an evenutal hinted goal of creating a federal European state.

The article suggests that the plan isn’t being universally accepted, with vocal opposition holding that this is a first-step toward undermining European national sovereignities in favor of a single European nation-state–a “United States of Europe”; it certainly seems ambitious, given that the European consititution went down to defeat in Britain.

We cannot necessarily similarly conclude as such, given our limited POV. We do note how interestingly the lines are drawn, however, with Kent and a section of the north of France unified into a “Trans-Manche” region (the name being inspired by the French name of the English Channel, La Manche), and with such geographically disparate areas as the English West Midlands organized to be common with Portugal. They don’t seem particularly tenable.