European Identity in the Context of the EU: Construction of European Identity in Civic and Cultural Terms

Abstract: European identity has been constructed and reconstructed on different bases, such as Christianity or common values throughout history. There has been an ongoing construction of European identity during the integration process within the EU. European identity refers to citizens’ sense of belonging to the EU, mainly with reference to its institutions and values (civic) or it may refer to citizens’ sense of belonging to Europe with reference to common cultural characteristics (cultural). The EU policy makers have sometimes used cultural, sometimes civic references. Although cultural references such as Greek heritage, Christianity and the Roman Empire have been effective on construction of European identity, they can not be main references in the context of the EU; because not all of the Member States have not passed through all of these processes, there is much cultural and religious diversity among them, even within the Member States. In this article, construction of European identity in the EU is discussed mainly through discourses of the political elites of the EU.