European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

BODERLINE EUROPEANS: NATIONALISMS AND FUNDAMENTALISMS 135I believe that if we moved forward sensibly along the first option,we would be able to aspire to make the European Union the frameworkwhere the existing problems between democratic nationalismswould be resolved, or at least creatively managed; and fromthere, we would see the principle debate on self-determination on adifferent light. All these nationalisms (state and minority) would playtheir own roles according to their characteristics and within specificsovereignty networks: state networks in some cases and for certainissues, national networks in other cases and for other issues, and allthat in the framework of a complex multinational European federalism.I believe we are technically prepared to design this type ofsociety but it seems as if we are not politically speaking, because thereare minority nationalisms unsatisfied with this option because they,purely and simply, want to equal present-day States, and becausemajority nationalisms are jealous of their own power and their ownidentity in front of minority nationalisms, to the extent that theythreaten the latter saying they will not be admitted into the Union ifthey achieve the sovereignty they claim. Despite these difficulties, Ibelieve it is worthwhile fighting for the proposal I have just suggested,fighting for the political conditions and social awareness that make itpossible.All the previous considerations should not lead us to conclude thatonly certain nationalisms are building European identity with a politicalcharge. Alongside them, and in an atmosphere of creative tension,there are other forces that cannot be described as nationalist, such asthe more cosmopolitan tendencies stressing that nationalism shouldmoderate its traditional rigid attachment to the state, and the socialpro-international tendencies aiming at the construction of a Europefirmly open to solidarity in the global context, vis-à-vis the temptationof closed solidarity. Partly, such tendencies affect existing nationalisms,making them more open; and partly, they express themselves throughorganizations in civil society. Tackling this issue, however, is not one ofthe goals of this presentation.Nationalisms and European identityEuropean construction cannot only revolve around the creation ofeconomic and political structures. It should also revolve around theconstruction of a shared pro-European identity both politically relevantand collectively lived. However, nationalisms are based precisely on anawareness of a national identity that, at a political level, is presented asthe predominant one. Does this entail problems for the creation of