Conclusion

Abstract

Combining politico-theoretical and discourse-theoretical approaches, this book has been concerned with the ‘self-constitution of Europe’ (Calhoun 2004: 1) through public communication and the public sphere. Preoccupation with the EPS matters: not only in terms of a ‘reconstruction of a theoretical framework for a normative postulate’ (Franzius 2004: 2), but because the EU has reached a level of integration that merits or indeed calls for an inquiry into its communicative processes. European integration has become much more than the challenge to integrate markets or harmonize national law, it also affects people’s identities.