Carryfast:
In this case it’s a clearly stated contradiction on the one hand ( rightly ) saying that they want a Confederal Europe made up of ‘independently’ governed ‘sovereign’ states.While on the other saying that they want ‘a’ ‘minister’ for Europe running the show and we ‘must’ all tow Sinn Fein’s,typically Socialist,global warmist,pro immigration line.Which makes a mockery of the idea of ‘sovereignty’ and independence and each state doing its own thing.Let alone the idea of Ireland for the Irish when they want to join Merkel in flooding the place with an Islamic demographic to take the place over from the Brit Loyalist one.IE these muppets are obviously all about pushing European Socialism and Blairite globalism not Irish Nationalism.That’s the fault of their vote base being obvious Socialists masquerading as Nationalists when it suits them.Not anything to do with any actual lies being told.
I would put the issue this way. Most of Sinn Fein’s support is not driven by any true “nationalist” agenda, but by resistance to Tory rule at Westminster and the right-wing Unionists generally, and a series of grievances (both recent and ancient) against the British state.
It’s the same with the SNP - they are wildly popular in Scotland and have thrown up some of the best politicians of the current generation, and yet when it came down to it their “nationalist” agenda was beaten comfortably in the Scottish independence referendum, and so too Scotland voted decisively to Remain in the EU referendum (their party ambition nowadays seems to be becoming an independent member state of the EU).
When the SNP was a centre-right nationalist party, it struggled to gain traction (it’s previous high-point in October 1974 was mostly at the expense of the Tories) but now that it has established a track record as a centre-left party, voters have said yes please to its left wing agenda whilst leaving the nationalist family heirloom firmly on the shelf. The fundamental source of it’s broader “nationalist” appeal today is opposition to the Tories at Westminster, nothing more than that. Until Corbyn was elected, the SNP was clearly to the left of Scottish Labour, and their landslide in 2015 was clearly at the expense of the vestiges of New Labour.
When the expected line of any Nationalist Party and vote worth its salt would be Sinn Fein standing on both sides of the border for ‘both’ Irexit ‘and’ Brexit and maintaining the Good Friday agreement as part of that.
Indeed, and yet once upon a time Sinn Fein was clearly in favour of Irish reunification (this seems to be downplayed nowadays). The obvious implication is that they are not a nationalist party. They are simply a left-wing, anti-Tory party.
At least until such time as Europe sees sense in going for a Confederal Europe and in which national sovereignty means and does what it says.
The EU more or less is a confederation, with the mere ambition to be a union.