A European identity?

Democratic legitimacy needs to be grounded in the collective will of the members of a political community. European integration has transformed the old Europe of independent nation states and the European Union has formally embraced democratic principles and procedures. However, it has not yet consolidated a democratic practice bringing forth citizens’ trust and solidarity.One might say that the search for democracy in the EU is connected to the search for an expression of the shared identity of the European people. To what extent does such a European identity exist? And if so, how can we see it? How does it affect identification with the nation state?

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