Pan-European identity is the sense of personal identification withEurope, in a cultural or political sense. The concept is discussed in the context ofEuropean integration,[1] historically in connection withhypothetical proposals, but since the formation of theEuropean Union (EU) in the 1990s increasingly with regard to the project of ever-increasingfederalisation of the EU. The model of a "pan-European" union is theCarolingian Empire, which first defined "Europe" as a cultural entity as the areas ruled by theRoman Catholic Church, later known as "Medieval Western Christendom" (which extended its scope further eastwards to the shores of theBaltic Sea during the course of theMiddle Ages). The original proposal for aPaneuropean Union was made in 1922 by CountRichard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, who defined the term "pan-European" as referring to this historical sense of the western and central parts of continental Europe encompassing the cultures that evolved from medievalWestern Christendom (i.e. Catholic and Protestant Europe, with the exception of the British Isles) instead of the modern geographic definition of thecontinent of Europe. Coudenhove-Kalergi saw the pan-European state as a future "fifth great power", in explicit opposition to the Soviet Union, "Asia", Great Britain and the United States (as such explicitly excluding both theBritish Isles and the areas that were influenced byByzantine Christendom, which are usually considered a part of geographical Europe, from his notion of "pan-European").[2]
After 1948, an accelerating process of European integration culminated in the formation of the EU in 1993. In the period from 1995–2020, the EU has beenenlarged from 12 to 27 member states, far beyond the area originally envisaged for the "pan-European" state by Coudenhove-Kalergi (with the exception ofSwitzerland), its member states accounting for a population of some 447 million, or three-fifths of the population of the entire continent. In the 1990s to 2000s, there was an active movement towards further consolidation of the European Union, with the introduction of symbols and institutions usually reserved for sovereign states, such ascitizenship, acommon currency (used by 20 out of 27 members), aflag, ananthem and amotto (In Varietate Concordia, "United in Diversity"). An attempt to introduce aEuropean Constitution was made in 2004, but it failed to be ratified; instead, theTreaty of Lisbon was signed in 2007 in order to salvage some of the reforms that had been envisaged in the constitution.
A debate on the feasibility and desirability of a "pan-European identity" or "European identity" has taken place in parallel to this process of political integration. A possible future "European identity" is seen at best as one aspect of a "multifaceted identity" still involving national or regional loyalties. Two authors writing in 1998 concluded that "In the short term, it seems that the influence of this project [of European integration] will only influence European identity in certain limited niches and in a very modest way. It is doubtful if this will do to ensure a smooth process of ongoing European integration and successfully address the challenges of the multicultural European societies."[3] Even at that time, the development of a common European identity was viewed as rather a by-product than the main goal of the European integration process, even though it was actively promoted by both EU bodies and non-governmental initiatives, such as theDirectorate-General for Education and Culture of theEuropean Commission.[3][4] With the rise of EU-scepticism and opposition to continued European integration by the early 2010s, the feasibility and desirability of such a "European identity" has been called into question.[5]
Pan-Europeanism, as it emerged in the wake ofWorld War I, derived a sense of European identity from the idea of ashared history, which was taken to be the source of a set of fundamental "European values".[clarification needed]
Typically,[clarification needed] the "common history" includes a combination ofAncient Greece andAncient Rome; thefeudalism of theMiddle Ages; theHanseatic League, theRenaissance; theAge of Enlightenment;19th-century liberalism and different forms ofsocialism,Christianity andsecularism;colonialism; and theWorld Wars.
"Europe" as a cultural sphere is first used during theCarolingian dynasty to encompass theLatin Church (as opposed toEastern Orthodoxy).[citation needed] The first mention of the concepts of "Europe" and "European" dates back to 754 in theMozarabic Chronicle. TheChronicle contains the earliest known reference in a Latin text to "Europeans" (europenses), whom it describes as having defeated the Saracens at thebattle of Tours in 732.[6][7]
The oldest European unification movement is thePaneuropean Union, which was founded in 1923 with the publishment ofRichard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's bookPaneuropa. He also became its first president (1926–1972), followed byOtto von Habsburg (1973–2004) andAlain Terrenoire (from 2004). The movement initiated and supported the "integration process" pursued after World War II, which eventually led to the formation of theEuropean Union. Notable "Paneuropeans" includeKonrad Adenauer,Robert Schuman andAlcide De Gasperi.
It has been for long a matter of discussions[8][9][10] to know whether or not this feeling of belonging was shared by a majority of Europeans, geographically speaking, and the strength of this feeling.
There are discussions as well about the question of the objective factors or "Europeanness". An approach[11] underlines how, for being European, a person would at least have to:
Usually, four steps are considered as conditions in the building of cultural and political identity:
One of the clearly stated political objectives of theEuropean Union is the deepening of the European identity feeling.[12]
Especially in France, "the European idea" (l'idée d'Europe) is associated withpolitical values derived from theAge of Enlightenment and theRepublicanism growing out of theFrench Revolution and theRevolutions of 1848 rather than with personal or individual identity formed by culture or ethnicity (let alone a "pan-European" construct including those areas of the continent never affected by 18th-century rationalism or Republicanism).[13]
The phrase "European values" arises as a political neologism in the 1980s in the context of the project ofEuropean integration and the future formation of theEuropean Union. The phrase was popularised by theEuropean Values Study, a long-term research program started in 1981, aiming to document the outlook on "basic human values" in European populations. The project had grown out of a study group on "values and social change in Europe" initiated byJan Kerkhofs, andRuud de Moor (Catholic University in Tilburg).[14] The claim that the people of Europe have a distinctive set of political, economic and social norms and values that are gradually replacing national values has also been named "Europeanism" by McCormick (2010).[15]
"European values" were contrasted to non-European values in international relations, especially in theEast–West dichotomy, "European values" encompassing individualism and the idea ofhuman rights in contrast to Eastern tendencies of collectivism. However, "European values" were also viewed critically, their "darker" side not necessarily leading to more peaceful outcomes in international relations.[16]
The association of "European values" withEuropean integration as pursued by theEuropean Union came to the fore with theeastern enlargement of the EU in the aftermath of theCold War.[17]
TheTreaty of Lisbon (2007) in article 2 lists a number of "values of the Union", including "respect forfreedom,democracy,equality, therule of law and respect forhuman rights including therights of persons belonging to minorities", invoking "a society in whichpluralism,non-discrimination,tolerance,justice,solidarity andequality between women and men prevail".[18]
Defining a European identity is a very complex process. From outside, "Europeanness" would be a thing for a Chinese or an American, but on the internal plan geography is not sufficient to define Europe in the eyes of Europeans. According toJean-Baptiste Duroselle,[19] "there has been, since men think, an immense variety of Europes".Paul Valéry cites three major heritages to define the European identity : theGreek democracy, theRoman Law, and theJudeo-Christian tradition.[20] YetEmmanuel Berl[21] criticizes this thesis as reductive, since it supposes a level of "Europeanness", decreasing for West to East. According to him, Europe is shape-shifting, and no culture historically prevails over another, andEuropean Islam, which concerns around 8% of the population, is one of the many sides of European identity.
Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe:Russian,German,French,Italian andEnglish. While Russian has the largest number of native speakers (more than 100 million in Europe), English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers ofEnglish as a second language.[22] There is no final account of allEuropean languages, but the sole EU recognizes 24 official languages. For some, the linguistic diversity is constituent of European identity.[23]
TheEuropean institutions made several concrete attempts to reinforce two things: identity contents (what is Europe in people's minds?) and identity formation (what makes people feel European?).[24] The.eu domain name extension was introduced in 2005 as a new symbol of the European Union identity on the World Wide Web. The .eu domain's introduction campaign specifically uses the tagline"Your European Identity". Registrants must be located within the European Union.
On the cultural plan, the European Union began a policy in the 70s with thedirective "Television without Frontiers", which allowed free trade of TV programs and guaranteed more than half of the air time to European operas.[25] The culture programme finances other cultural activities in order to strengthen the European common identity. The European Union also bet onsymbols: theflag, theanthem ("Ode to Joy" from the finalmovement ofBeethoven's9th Symphony), the motto "In varietate concordia", the twoEurope days. Great cultural unifying events are organised, such as theEuropean heritage days, or the election of theCapital of Culture. The youth mobility has been encouraged since the launching of theErasmus programme in 1987, which has permitted students to go to 33 European countries.
The challenge of communication, to make the European project more understandable to the 500 million citizens, in 24 languages, has also been addressed: in 2004, the first Vice-President of the Commission has theCommunication Strategy portfolio. The common values are reasserted through the judicial action of theEuropean Court of Human Rights. Linked to this, the European Union funds many surveys (such asEurobarometer) and scientific studies, to improve its identity-building policies. A collection of such studies is for exampleThe development of European Identity/Identities : Unfinished Business[12]
Aspects of an emerging "European identity" in popular culture may be seen in the introduction of "pan-European" competitions such as theEurovision Song Contest (since 1956), theUEFA European Championship (since 1958) or, more recently, theEuropean Games (2015). In these competitions, it is still teams or representatives of the individual nations of Europe that are competing against one another, but a "European identity" many argued to arise from the definition the "European" participants (often loosely defined, e.g. including Morocco, Israel and Australia in the case of the Eurovision Song Contest), and the emergence of "cultural rites" associated with these events.[26]In the 1990s and 2000s, participation in the Eurovision Song Contest was to some extent perceived as a politically significant confirmation of nationhood and of "belonging to Europe" by the then-recently independent nations of Eastern Europe.[27]
Pan-European events not organised along national lines include theEuropean Film Awards, presented annually since 1988 by theEuropean Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in over ten categories, of which the most important is the Film of the year. They are restricted toEuropean cinema and European producers, directors, and actors.[28]
TheRyder Cup golf competition is a biennial event, originally between a British and an American team, but since 1979 admitting continental European players to form a "Team Europe". Theflag of Europe was used to represent "Team Europe" since 1991, but reportedly most European participants preferred to use their own national flags.[29]There have also been attempts touse popular culture for the propagation of "identification with the EU" on the behalf of the EU itself. These attempts have proven controversial. In 1997, the European Commission distributed a comic strip titledThe Raspberry Ice Cream War, aimed at children in schools. The EU office in London declined to distribute this in the UK, due to an expected unsympathetic reception for such views.[30][31]Captain Euro, a cartoon character superhero mascot of Europe, was developed in the 1990s by branding strategistNicolas De Santis to support the launch of theEuro currency.[32][33][34]
In 2014, London branding think tank, Gold Mercury International, launched theBrand EU Centre, with the purpose of solving Europe's identity crisis and creating a strong brand of Europe.[35][36]In 2005, theInstitut Aspen France proposed the creation of a European Olympic Team, which would break with the existing organisation throughNational Olympic Committees.[37] In 2007,European Commission PresidentRomano Prodi suggested that EU teams should carry the European flag, alongside the national flag, at the2008 Summer Olympics – a proposal which angeredeurosceptics.[38][39] According to Eurobarometer surveys, only 5% of respondents think that a European Olympic team would make them feel more of a 'European citizen'.[40]
TheEurobarometer surveys show that European and national identities tend to add rather than rule themselves out. In 2009, 3 French out of 5 felt French and European, a feeling that dominated in every socio-political group except theNational Front supporters. Yet this tendency is not geographically homogeneous: 63% of Britons favoured their sole nationalities (which has been one of the main explanations of theBrexit vote), against 27% Luxembourgian. The 2012Eurobarometer survey reported that 49% of those surveyed described the EU member states as "close" in terms of "shared values" (down from 54% in 2008), 42% described them as "different" (up from 34% in 2008).[41] During these surveys, the respondents are asked which notions they spontaneously associate with the EU.Democracy,Human Rights,Freedom of movement and theeuro are the most cited. There are divergences between generations: those who knew war directly or through their parents' narrations mention peace, while the younger evoke market economy. The idea that identity is built through opposition to other groups is also confirmed since 60% of Europeans state they rather or fully agree with the idea that "compared with other continents, it is distinctly easier to see what Europeans have in common in terms of values"[42] A recent study shows that the extent of the division over European identity are greater than that of national identity and even comparable to the magnitude of religious divide in most of countries included in the study. Moreover, it shows that outgroup derogation dominates ingroup favoritism in 22 out of 25 countries.[1]
The risk, defining a European identity, is to close up from other cultures that would not correspond to pre-defined criteria. To face this difficulty, vagueness is necessary: theTreaty of Lisbon mentions, for example, "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance".[43] Moreover, it would be illusory to impose a principle of cultural homogeneity to states with various national identities.Jean-Marc Ferry considers[44] that the European construction developed new differentiation, between citizenship and nationality for example, with the birth of post national citizenship[45] in 1992. According toRaymond Aron,[46] the construction can predate the European sentiment, but the last is essential to avoid a fictional Europe, a Europe that would only be a meaningless word in which the people do not recognize themselves. This idea is backed byJacques Delors, who wrote in 1992 that it is needed to "give Europe a soul, [...] a spirituality, a meaning" beyond the simple economic and administrative realities.[47]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
.svg)
