Multiculturalism and Dimensions of Identification in Eastern Europe: A Failed Policy or Inescapable Reality?

Abstract

In 1992 the French Senate debated and introduced a constitutional amendment adding the line ‘the language of the Republic is French’ to the article describing the symbols of the nation.¹ During the debates it was proclaimed that mentioning regional languages was unnecessary because it was well known that France was committed to respect regional languages and cultures (Étienne et al., 1999, p. 61). However, the original reason for the constitutional amendment was to make the Constitution compatible with the newly found Treaty of the European Union (the Treaty of Maastricht). This Treaty, significantly, made the first mention of multicultural heritage, linking this to the concept of diversity, as the basis for the Union in what can be considered European Community constitutional law:

The Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore.

(Europa, 2012)

Embedding the issue of diversity in normative discourse, the Treaty identifies levels of diversity that can render norms related to identification of the European Union as a political entity, its principles of functioning and the role of respect for diversity in the understanding of what ‘European’ means.