In brief

Sub-state governments, associations insist on the need for a referendum on the reunification of Brittany

Nantes municipality to raise Breton flag from December

Political and civic society representatives behind a sign supporting reunification, in Nantes, 11 October 2020.
Political and civic society representatives behind a sign supporting reunification, in Nantes, 11 October 2020. Author: À la bretonne
Some 150 people —elected representatives of Breton sub-state governments and associations— met on 11 October in Nantes to discuss the prospects for the reunification of historic Brittany and to explain some proposals for moving towards this goal.

The main tool for it remains the referendum which, in 2018, the Loire-Atlantique department asked French President Emmanuel Macron to organise. The two organisers of the meeting (À la Bretonne and Breizh Civic Lab associations) have announced that the General Council of Brittany and the City of Nantes (the capital of the Loire-Atlantique department) will sign a document supporting the petition made to Macron by the end of the year.

Loire-Atlantique demanded the referendum after the Bretagne Réunie association had collected 105,000 signatures of support. The President of Loire-Atlantique, Philippe Grosvalet, said he is against reunification, but admitted the referendum should be organised since the petition had democratic legitimacy.

To make its commitment to reunification more visible, the Nantes municipality has decided to hoist the flag of Brittany in front of the building from December onwards.

Loire-Atlantique, although belonging to Brittany for centuries, is now part of the Pays de la Loire region. For decades, the Breton movement has been calling for its reunification with the four departments that make up the official region of Brittany.

Some elected representatives of Loire-Atlantique propose that the whole of the Pays de la Loire should be united with Brittany to form a new macro-region, the so-called Grand Ouest. The Breton movement rejects this possibility.