On European Identity

Theodora Kostakopoulou 

University of Southampton - School of Law
July 25, 2012

R. Bellamy and U. Staiger (eds.), EU Citizenship and the Market, The European Institute, UCL, 2011
Southampton Law School Research Paper 
Abstract:      
The European identity can never be a mirror image of national identities; being at war within itself and with other countries is not the modality of European identity. In addition, the existence of an overarching identity is not needed in order to furnish the unity and the purpose of the European edifice. For this has already achieved by doing things together, solving problems together, by designing appropriate institutions, reflecting critically on them, revising and redrawing the European Union architecture. True, the participants in this project must not be indifferent, that is, they must have a positive orientation towards European integration and a sense of commitment that stimulates their engagement, but such orientation and engagement have many shades and are manifested in different ways. Certainly, European citizens are not required to suppress all other identifications and to display unqualified acceptance of, and allegiance to, what has been decided. The language of sacrifice and patriotism is not apposite to the European Union; in fact, the latter has led us to revise our belief that a political order that cannot command personal sacrifice is either short-lived or illegitimate. In the plural European community people are free to choose whether or not to identity with a particular community or with more than one communities simultaneously and to revise or modify this choice whenever they wish.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 5

Keywords: European identity, national identity, European citizenship

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2117157