A Soul for Europe. On the Political and Cultural Identity of the Europeans: Reader

After moving for the last ten years towards a close coalition the time has come for the European Union and it’s citizens to face the challenge of whether or not to establish a fully-fledged common polity. The decision needs a Europe-wide debate that includes all member states. European citizens must dicuss what, if any, common values, principle and basic policies they share. A European identity involves the Union’s institutions becoming rooted in the soul of the citizens, whatever its relationship might be to the existing national and local identities. Only then will the EU possess democratic legitimacy and support. The two volumes are written by authors with a political and intellectual interest in the European process. They discuss the EU’s unprecedented character as a peaceful and voluntary union of people, its understandable obstacles encountered along the way to further integration and the Union’s less acceptable shortcomings. The first volume is written for the general reader. It examines the essential components of an European policy identity in relation to democracy, citizenship, social justice, war and peace, freedom and borders. It also explores the history of this identity. The second volume is a collection of essays providing in-depth analysis of fundamental aspects of European cultural identity such as religion, art and economic culture, myth and civil society.