The European constitution and European identity: Text and subtext of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

Abstract

1.1. Scope and development Since the beginnings of European integration, many have asserted that establishing a European identity is essential.1 They consider citizens’ identification with the supranational organization as necessary to its expansion into a viable political community. Official efforts were already directed toward this goal by the early 1970s, finding a first peak in the 1973 declaration of heads of state and government on European identity.2 The only moderate success of “identity politics,”3 thus far, has significantly contributed to current efforts toward a written European constitution, which is “to bring citizens closer to the European design and European institutions.”4 Not all scholars agree that EU citizens are actually required to identify with the Union in order for it to attain its objectives in the long run. Certainly, a viable community cannot consist of irreconcilable religious, ethnic, or social