The concept of European identity: Overused and underspecified?

Abstract

Strengthening its citizens' identification with the process of European integration in general and with EU institutions and policies in particular has become one of the major challenges for the European Union today. The increasing diversification of European societies, a result of processes of globalisation and new kinds of differentiation and migration, forces political actors at different levels - local, regional, national, and EU - to address issues of citizenship and identity as a means to counteract social conflict and the fragmentation of societies. Identity politics on the European level, that is, attempts to create a collective identity through a redefinition of loyalties and attachments, aims at enhancing a consciousness of being European and thus at creating enduring forms of political and social integration.