THIRTY YEARS OF THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE PRIMARY LAW OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: CLEARLY UNCLEAR?

Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of national identity, which was incorporated into the primary law of the European Union (EU) 30 years ago by the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty. Subsequent revisions of the Treaty changed the wording of this concept until it was established in Article 4(2) of the Treaty of Lisbon. This paper summarizes knowledge about the concept and examines its development from the point of view of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). First, the article deals with the definition of the term 'national identity' and examines it from a theoretical-interpretive point of view. Secondly, the article focuses on the development of the concept in the jurisprudence of the CJEU in the period from the Maastricht Treaty to 2022 to the present. The analysis of CJEU jurisprudence is divided into two chapters. Chapter 2 points to the stagnant development of the concept, and the Chapter 3 points to a recent shift in the attitude towards the concept on the part of the EU. The main goal of this paper is to assess and evaluate this concept from the point of view of the jurisprudence of the CJEU. This paper uses methods of analysis and synthesis of individual sources into comprehensive conclusions.