European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

EUROPE, FROM THE INSTITUTIONAL REFERENT THE PERSONAL REFERENT: ... 71Where might this common identity derive from? On what basis is itpossible to construct a union amongst diversity? If one looks only at theNation States, a common identity is based on a shared history, languageand sometimes religion, elements that are not shared in the alreadymentioned multinational States (as the Union could be, according tosome). 1Ernst Renan has sustained that national identity compels us eitherto forget the past or to remember it. This happens because historyitself may be the precursor of the divisions that do not obtain thebuilding of a common identity that is constructed when individualsbelonging to distinct groups see, in a broader political reality, thepossibility of developing their own national identity without obstacles.Habermas maintains that European unity cannot be based solely onmembership to shared traditions, cultures and languages whichcharacterize the Nation States: it should also make reference to thereality of the European citizens. This should be based on a “postnational”constitutional patriotism founded on the adhesion to theprinciples of justice and democracy.Citizenship per se represents an idea taken to extreme juridicalconsequences as a compromise of rights and obligations 2 ; consequently,it should be accompanied by identity as a manifestation of individualmembership to a political community 3 .The essence of identity and of citizenshipEuropean identity is connected to the concept of citizenship. Article 17of the Constitutive Treaty of the European Community establishes European1The concepts of State and Nation are different. The state is constructed, whereasthe Nation is a permanent cultural community. Substantially, two elements should bepresent: a contribution of values and a common identity.2To speak of a legislative corpus that embraces specific rights is not to take forgranted pre-existing rights in the Old Continent, but rather to suggest that the samerights form an integral part of the Europe of the future.3In the EU environment one must keep in mind the processes of internationalglobalization and the fact that added to the inequality of rights that opposes nationalsagainst foreigners, given the closing off of EU borders to the exterior, is the distinctionbetween Europeans and non-Europeans.What must be borne in mind in the current diatribe against a common identity isthat “Europe will be social and cultural it will not.”In the age of globalization, the differences that exist in Europe are the consequenceof a totally radicalised pluralism. One must not underestimate these differences becausethey possess great cultural wealth: the bringing together of these cultures shouldgenerate solidarity, peace and democracy.