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In the UK, there are parties represented in regional and the national parliament calling for either the secession of, or at least greater autonomy for their nations from the UK (e.g. SNP, Plaid Cymru, etc.) In Spain I believe something like 40-60% of parliamentary seats in Catalonia and the Basque country are regularly won by parties similarly calling for secession / greater autonomy for those lands. I know of regional autonomy movements which have achieved political representation in Italy too, and I believe at least some of the mainstream political parties in Belgium call for the independence of Flanders/Wallonia.

Are there any comparable regionalist parties in Germany - i.e. calling for greater autonomy for any single states, or for a complete secession of a state from the federal government, who have been able to achieve seats in the Bundestag, regional or EU parliaments?

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The Bavaria Party (Bayernpartei) advocates for Bavaria's independence from Germany. It does not have any representation at the federal or state level, but it does have four seats at the local level.

There are a few other parties that seek to represent minority ethnic groups, but none of them are about the region itself.

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There are several dozen political parties in Germany. There are several significant regional parties, but I don't think there are significant separatist parties.

  • The largest party in Bavaria, the CSU, is unusual in that it runs only in Bavaria and not in all of Germany. In the rest of Germany there is the CDU, which does not run in Bavaria and forms the "Union" together with the CSU. There are some separatist tendencies, but by and large the CSU is regional but not separatist.

  • There is a party representing the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein, the SSW. They regularly get seats in the state parliament, helped by a rule which excludes them from a 5% threshold -- they need just enough votes for one representative under the proportional system. Again, the party is regional but not separatist.

  • Joe mentioned the Bayernpartei, which is separatist but not very significant.

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