Challenges for the European Union in the New Millennium: A Crisis of Identity?
Challenges for the European Union in the New Millennium: A Crisis of Identity?

Author(s): Monica Meruțiu, Alexandru Zamșa
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Political Theory, Politics and society, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, Politics and Identity
Published by: Университет за национално и световно стопанство (УНСС)
Keywords: EU Integration; EU Development; European Culture; European Cultural Identity; European Identity
Summary/Abstract: Robert Schuman’s call from 1958 for a community of peoples in freedom, equality, solidarity and peace and which is deeply rooted in Christian basic values comes to mind when looking at the contemporary European stage today, to the phases of changes and challenges Europe is going through. A paradoxical Europe may appear to one’s sight, a civilization that lost track of itself and knows no longer what it stands for, swept in various crises, culminating with a crisis of identity manifesting itself at different levels, including the economic and political ones. The question of the European identity seems to have aquired a more complex dimension with the efforts to formulate a Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (2004) but also in the context of the enlargement that brought with itself new challenges and intensified the struggle to integrate different religious and secular communities. This reveals once again that providing an answer to the question ‘What is Europe?’ is still provocative for the 21st century Europe. A heir of the Greek, Roman and Judeo-Christian heritage, contemporary Europe seems to be in a state of confusion when it comes to recognizing its religious roots.

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