Whose story about Europe? The problem of acceptance and legitimisation of the European project in the eyes of young people

Abstract

This article reflects on the issue of legitimacy and attitudes of the young generation (16–19 years old) towards the European integration. The authors decided to divide the text into two parts, the first of which consists of the theoretical and historical approach to the problem of the legitimacy of European integration and the narrative about Europe, and the second presents the main conclusions and problems identified during the work of authors with the youth, and the implementation of the international Jean Monnet Network project MoreEU: More Europe to overcome the crisis. Confrontation of these two parts has made it clear that traditional justification of the legitimacy of the integration project does not speak to the contemporary youth, and that this is precisely in this age group that we can clearly see the crisis of the legitimacy of the European Union.