Paths of Critical Europeanism: From Blockupy to Neo-municipalism

In opposition to the main approaches to European integration, in this contribution I will adopt a perspective closer to contentious politics in order to emphasise the role that non-institutional actors may have in this process. In particular, I will try to investigate how, in recent years, the relationship between the European Union and the so-called social movements has changed. In fact, the latter often have taken positions that can be described in terms of a critical and radical Europeanism. I intend to focus on two paths of mobilisation that, in recent years, have combined opposition to EU policies with a pro-European tension: Blockupy and neo-municipalism. The first had an immediate transnational vocation and experienced a convergence between a plurality of actors (parties, collectives, trade unions, associations). The development of this European network developed in parallel with and in opposition to the imposition of austerity policies. After this moment of crisis emergency management, the contentious rejection of the neo-liberal policies of the EU seems to have moved to a more local level. The term “neo-municipalism” acts as an umbrella for a series of political experimentations across Europe, which aim to restore power to the many urban experiences of social commitment. In both cases, there is a field of tension between a transnational attitude and European institutions.