Representations of Europe and the Nation: How do Spaniards see themselves as Nationals and Europeans? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series, Vol. 4. No. 13, October, 2004

Jiménez, Antonia Maria Ruiz. (2004) Representations of Europe and the Nation: How do Spaniards see themselves as Nationals and Europeans? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series, Vol. 4. No. 13, October, 2004. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

(From the introduction). The core theme of this article is the relation between citizens’ national identity and their European identity. After the European Union (EU) launched a series of policies aimed at creating a European identity at the end of the 1980s, the member states responded by including a paragraph in the Maastricht Treaty specifying that the Union should respect member states’ national identities (Article F, point 1). This reaction, along with the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity and the rejection of the word “Federal”, suggested that many member states saw the creation of a European identity as a potential threat to their own national identities and their citizens’ national loyalties. Indeed, in the early 1990s national identity was used by the political elites as a means of justifying the right to independent statehood and sovereignty. Due to the close links between national identity and national independence, many scholars have argued that the European integration process could be seen as a threat to national identity (Höjelid 2001), and hence difficult to achieve.

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