Europe's Postmodern Identity: A Critical Appraisal

The modern project of European integration is incorporating more and more “state-like” functions such as economic, monetary and foreign and security policy. But does the EU also have a solid basis of support among European citizens? For the further development of European integration one of the main questions seems to be how homogeneous Europe needs to be in cultural terms? What level of solidarity and “shared experience” is needed? How far should the EU become a locus of identity for European citizens? This essay argues that without something resembling a “European identity,” the process of Europeanization will inevitably grind to a halt or even rupture. But given the multifarious character of Europe, developing such an “identity beyond the state” can be based only on a solid base of multiculturalism, acknowledging that cultural diversity is a permanent and valuable part of democratic political society. Europe's emerging postmodern identity therefore calls for a politics of cultural affinity, rather than a narrow-minded conception of “Europeanness.” This essay takes the EU's policies on telecommunications and the semiotics of the Euro as examples of how notions of nationalism and sovereignty have changed (and continue to change) in the European context.