Venetian Protesters Demand Independence From Rome; Polls Show 70% Favor Independence

[pampango]

5. Good point. I think any current EU country can block a potential new member. Is that right?

If so, the threat of blocking EU membership would be something that a country could hold over a separatist regions' head.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia emerged peacefully from Czechoslovakia in 1993 and both joined the EU in 2004, but neither of them had any interest in blocking (or could have done so since they joined simultaneously) the other's EU membership.

Of course Czechoslovakians were not in the EU at the time their country split, whereas Scots, Venetians, Flemish and Catalonians already are. If any of these separatist movements succeed in gaining independence for their regions, it will be interesting to see how the EU reacts and what procedures for membership apply to the new countries.