Nation-state and the European Union: Lost in a Battle for Identity

This article, based on studies of nationalism, discusses identity formation in the European Union and compares it to the nation-state. The starting point is that for all its economic benefits and political innovation, the EU is failing to provide people with the sense of belonging and extract political loyalty. By exploring what function identity serves – for the nation-state in the past and for the EU in the present – it is argued that while there are limits to the EU’s ability to project a meaningful European identity, there are also limits to the nation-state’s ability to meet the political challenges of contemporary societies. One way, and possibly the only way out of this ‘battle for identity’ is to acknowledge the real impact of the EU on the nation-state and open an honest debate by both European and national elites about which challenges of our time can be met by the EU and which are better kept at the national level. A better understanding of how people’s national aspirations, concerns and political demands are mediated between different levels of governance may lead to adapting their identities accordingly – loyalty and passion for the EU may follow too.