European Identities Made in Germany

Abstract

Ever since Jürgen Habermas polarised the discussion on European identity by posing the question whether the development of a European identity is necessary or, indeed, possible (Habermas 2006: 67ff), the issue has been discussed in Germany in a controversial manner. According to the sceptics — who in their various pessimistic scenarios consider it neither necessary nor possible — the EU lacks a basis of legitimisation, or else is not rationally tenable because there is no such thing as a European folk (Grimm 1995/2003; Brunkhorst 2007; Kielmansegg 1996, Tibi 2000). On top of this, the unreasonable demands of multicultural immigration and economic globalisation lead to the lack of a European ‘demos’. To the contrary, the optimists argue that the process of Europeanisation (as initiated, for instance, by the introduction of the Euro) entails the development of a public European sphere which, in turn, will bring about the transformation of national identities (Risse et al. 1999; Risse 2001, 2003). The third type of scenario claims the development of a European identity as necessary and possible, while it acknowledges the challenge of different concepts and constructions of what it means to ‘be European’ in different European countries.