European Identity and Its Importance to the EU

Abstract

In the past three years a specific question became an impotant issue in the political process although it has been discussed for some decades now: Is there a European identity? And if there’s no such identity:Can it be created? Can we even speak of a European people? Due to the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (EU) these very basic, though important questions were set once again on the agenda of politics, media and the civil society. Moreover there are nationalist parties gaining strength in almost every European state and with the case of Hungary and Poland there are even two states goverened by nationalist leaders (Jacobs, 2018). Hence, we can assume that right now a possible European identity is under heavy fire from nationalist movements and parties all over Europe. The upcoming elections to the European Parliament in May will be decisive regarding the project of European integration and identity.

Keywords: European Identity, politics

JEL Classification: J10