The European Identity as a Mechanism of Democratic Legitimacy in the Construction of the European Union. A Globalizing Challenge

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the several attempts by EU Member States and their own institutions to shape a European identity capable of democratically legitimising the European project. In the first stage, and due to the perception of the benefits of the peace achieved after the Second World War and economic integration, no significant efforts were made to build a European identity. In a second stage, since 1984, it began to be perceived that the mere perception of economic benefits was not enough to democratically base the Community project, and so categories and concepts of classical constitutionalism began to be transferred to the Union; in particular, European citizenship, established by the Maastricht Treaty. Finally, the Laeken Declaration of 2001 opened a third stage in which important structural reforms and advances were made in terms of European identity and democratic legitimacy through the failed European Constitution and the subsequent Lisbon Treaty.