European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

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198 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYit become obvious that they required treatment of supranationalnature. So the Organization for European Economic Cooperation(OEEC, 1948), the Council of Europe (1949) and the European Coaland Steel Community (1951) were created, after which Europe came tomean, for the world elites and the media, an economic agent on aworld-wide scale and not only a part of the map. This corresponds withthe fact that in that moment, when referring to the promotion ofEuropean unity, it meant almost only fostering a unified and healthymanagement of the continent’s economic problems. This was theunderlying meaning of Europeanness when the European EconomicCommunity was established in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome.This implied that the new meaning of Europeanness was bornunder the sign of the economy and that the new relationship system inwhich European identity manifested itself was that of the greaterglobal economic processes. In fact, this is how it is still seen by themedia, which tends to correlate Europe with the United States andJapan, regarding Europe implicitly as one of the three great economicconglomerates emerging from the mass of nations which are oftenvaguely referred to as Third World or developing countries. Belongingto Europe meant still being amongst the great, from an economicstandpoint.However, it became increasingly clear that the economic managementof the continent could not be efficient in the long run if it was notbased on continental political and social management . Europe had tomean an ensemble of societies socially and politically responsible for theircommon future. This is how the Treaty of Maastricht was reached, whichin 1993 changed the name of European Economic Community for thatof European Union. It sealed the on-going yearly attempts to manage toassociate being European with a co-operative lifestyle in a unitary space offreedom, security and recognition of human rights, as it was formulatedsoon afterwards at the meeting of the European Council in Tampere.This was the path travelled up to now for the reconstruction of theidea of Europe by the elites, always somewhat ahead of its institutionalconstruction. We now fulfil the two first conditions previously definedas essential for the promotion of a social identity: having a well-definedidea of the meaning of that identity and being able to realise themeaning of that identity in a map of relationships established accordingto some particular criterion.I would also add that if this idea of Europe were to be madepresent in classrooms, it would have to be transmitted through socialrepresentations familiar to students. I believe this will cause somedifficulties. Firstly, because the context of social relationships in which
THE MEANING OF EUROPEAN IDENTITY: PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE PROJECT 199the idea of Europeanness acquires its true meaning is complex andrather remote to students. Secondly, and even more so, because inSpain the vision of Europe as a especially rich, advanced and superiorcontinent is still very deeply rooted. If this is so, when wanting to fosterthe consciousness of Europeanness amongst students, we may bepromoting the idea that they should consider themselves superior topeople from other countries and underestimate them and that theyshould be able to immediately enjoy the quality of life that is imaginativelyattributed to citizens in Scandinavian countries or Germany, etc.Thus, one should be cautious about the latent meanings ofEuropeanness, which one should be guarded against in completelydifferent ways according to the age of students since the adequate waysof acquiring the idea of Europeanness varies greatly from Primary toSecondary school. I am not the most suitable person to talk about howto carry out this task but I thought that at least it should be mentioned itin order to explain how important the past of the comprehension ofthe idea of Europe is for its present transmission.One important strategic option regarding this transmission in theclassroom will be, undoubtedly, how to frame the idea of Europeannesswithin the relationship systems inside which it becomes meaningful. Imentioned beforehand that, originally, the idea of Europeanness wasestablished within a system of power relationships, then within relationshipsof superiority and inferiority according to progress standards, andmore recently, since the last post-war period, within macroeconomicand high political or diplomatic relationships. However, since Maastricht,the idea of Europeanness needs to be seen as a way of establishingsocial relationships at continental level. This implies understandingEuropeanness as the foundation of our duties to others and not only asbelonging to the privileged nations. Everyone realizes how importantand difficult this task can be.The present of European identity and its transmissionin the classroomI have previously listed three aspects of the present of Europeanidentity contextually conditioning its transmission in the classroom: thepredominant attitudes towards it among the primary groups thestudents belong to, the way of seeing the compatibility betweenEuropean identity and the national identities of the individualsconcerned, and the events in the wider social environment relevant tothe comprehension of the identity.
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Inés María Gómez-Chacón (ed.)Eu
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European Identity.Individual, Group
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ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . .
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CONTENTS 914. The Construction of E
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12 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, G
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Opening AddressCamino Cañón Loyes
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OPENING ADDRESS 29throughout histor
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OPENING ADDRESS 31—To gather expe
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OPENING ADDRESS 33European nature a
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1.What do we Mean When we Say Europ
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 39W
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 41O
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 43u
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 45e
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WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY EUROPE 47A
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3.Europe, from the Institutional Re
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EUROPE, FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL REFE
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4.The European Dimension of Educati
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THE EUROPEAN DIMENSION OF EDUCATION
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100 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL,
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6.European Programmes from SpainEnc
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 113(
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 115S
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 117s
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EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES FROM SPAIN 119A
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7.Is the European Model Being Rejec
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IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
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IS THE EUROPEAN MODEL BEING REJECTE
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8.Boderline Europeans:Nationalisms
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BODERLINE EUROPEANS: NATIONALISMS A
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9.Difference as Destabilizing Facto
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DIFFERENCE AS DESTABILISING FACTOR
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16.Images of Europe: the Perspectiv
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IMAGES OF EUROPE: THE PERSPECTIVE O
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22.The Construction of European Ide
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN IDENTI
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