ABSTRACT
The Südtiroler Volkspartei (SVP) occupies a special position in the spectrum of European regional parties and movements insofar as it has in many respects more in common with the supra-regional or national parties that do not call themselves ‘ethnic’ parties than with regionalist movements and groups, because it possesses relatively high organisational continuity and plays a highly specialised role with a constant form of organisation and articulation. The ways in which it participates in politics are quite traditional. Furthermore, at the level of international party formation, the SVP is a member/observer of the European Democratic Union (EDU) and the European People’s Party (EPV), and not of the formation that groups most European regionalist parties, the European Free Alliance.
