Sámi-EU relations: Sámi participation as an example of Indigenous peoples’ participation in transnational policy-making?

In a globalised world, a people’s self-determination is no longer primarily affected by policy-making in the national context but largely also by decisions being made at the transnational level. Understanding self-determination as a human right and underlining the interdependencies between self-determination and participation, hence 1) assuring self-determination is not only in the hands of the nation-states anymore and 2) dealing with questions of participation is thus no longer only an issue to be solved at the national level. These circumstances also hold true for the case of the Sámi people and policy-making at the level of the European Union (EU). EU policies are impacting Sámi livelihoods to an ever greater extent, describing the criterion of affectedness. Further, not only the Member States but the EU itself has signed international standards on Indigenous peoples’ rights, relating to the criterion of the right to self-determination. Both criteria would reason a need for Sámi participation at the EU level. However, in my analysis, I identify participation and representational gaps. Within Sámi-EU relations, I analyse different forms of participation and formalisation as well as their mechanisms to address my research questions ‘To what extent and how do Sámi-EU relations enable Sámi participation in EU policy-making and what conclusions can be drawn more generally for Indigenous peoples’ participation in transnational policy-making?’.