An “ever closer union” with ever deeper troubles. European integration and European identification

Una "unione sempre più stretta" con problemi sempre più profondi. Integrazione europea e identificazione europea

Abstract

The political problem of legitimacy is inexorably linked to the issue of cultural identity. This is especially true for the EU, who is currently facing a deep legitimacy crisis. The economic and political integration has provided an increasingly supranational character to the EU. Nevertheless, the underestimation of a parallel concern for the cultural and identitarian dimension of the union prevented the strengthening of European belonging. This explains the current legitimacy crisis and the increasing anti-European tendencies, which are the result of a deeper deficit of meaning for the European enterprise as whole.