L’identità europea

The problem of a distinctive European identity is both an interesting research question and a politically relevant issue. It is a complex and controversial research question for two main reasons: first, Europe has traditionally been an open and multiple world, with several cultural identities, which has constantly put into question its common beliefs and unifying ties – as a result, some scholars consider it more appropriate to speak of European identities in the plural. Second, the culture of Europe has become the culture of modernity and various basic components of the European identity have been globally diffused, making it difficult, to identify what is to-day specifically European. European identity is also a key political issue. There is widespread criticism that the European Union is today a limited project since the economic integration of Europe has not been transformed by a parallel cultural integration into a true political union. Actually, the current construction of the European Union- as a process of building a loosely coupled, open system through a set of supra-national, supra-state normative institutions- is made possible by a common historical heritage and by shared cultural attitudes. It is argued that there are both several different identities of the European peoples and a European common identity based on a set of common cultural roots that the advent of modernity had fixed into a specific cultural and institutional setting. The European project is still a modern project because its common identity must be constructed on the future, on the principle of the unity through the diversity denying the old belief that what is different is potentially hostile: iy may be weaker than traditional national identities, but is more apt to contribute to a democratic form of global governance