Are the foundations solid?” “” “

One Union, but multiple identities. Now that the frontiers of the EU have been extended and the signing of the Constitution approaches (scheduled for 29 October), some questions that have always accompanied the history of continental integration are re-emerging: recently several academics have posed anew the question of the European identity. This is a key question to understand whether the foundations of the 25-member EU are really solid, though the preamble of the Constitution itself calls for “unity in diversity”. IN THE SEARCH FOR A “COLLECTIVE IDENTITY”. It has been repeatedly underlined that to pursue the path of real integration between the peoples and states that compose the EU, full sharing of great values and long-term objectives is needed. That said, intellectuals warn that a “European spirit”, a “conviviality of cultures”, the fruitful meeting between different histories, traditions and customs, and the adoption of shared symbols, are also needed. The problem is enunciated by the historian Anne-Marie Thiesse, director of the CNRS in Paris, the author among other publications of the book La création des identités nationales. Europe XVIII-XX siècle. “To respond to the challenges of the world economy – she points out – Europe is endowing itself with suitable structures, that derive from those of states: the European Union promulgates community regulations, establishes the free circulation of goods and persons on its own territory, coins its own money, has its own parliament and executive. What it lacks entirely, however, is what corresponds to a nation: a collective identity, the attachment to a common territory, and the shared ideal of brotherhood”. DiFFERENT SYMBOLS FOR A SINGLE UNION. The importance of the question cannot be ignored, and indeed it was repeatedly taken into consideration during the work of the Convention on the future of Europe, chaired by Valery Giscard d’Estaing. The repeated interventions of John Paul II on the citation of the “Christian roots” of Europe in the Constitution, and the need to recognise a profound feature of its history and a significant and peculiar aspect of the continent’s profile today, were to be interpreted in the same way. In this regard, the position of those who sense – especially in this age of symbols and communications – the importance of promoting, among the 450 million citizens of the EU, a certain “familiarity” with common symbols is gaining ground. The European flag and anthem have so far played some role in underlining a shared identity both inside and outside EU frontiers. Less effective has so far been the “Festival of Europe”. The single currency and the Constitution itself are growing as “faces of the EU”. THE CROWN OF STARS, A “CHRISTIAN” SYMBOL. The European flag now has a half-century of life behind it. The emblem, a circle of 12 gold stars on a blue ground, was defined by the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 October 1955 and officially adopted by the Committee of ministers of the Council of Europe on 8 December 1955 (it is worth recalling that the presence of the twelve stars derives – according to the testimony of a leading European bureaucrat of the time – from the crown usually found in representations of the Virgin Mary). In the mid-1980s it was then the turn of the Parliament in Strasbourg, in agreement with the Council of Europe, to adopt the blue flag with the circle of stars as the symbol of the EEC. Ever since then, the 12 stars, a symbolic number that represents completeness, that recalls the months of the year, the hours of the quadrant and the biblical tribes of Israel, has been a permanent element of the flag, as also has the circle that signifies unity. THE NOTES OF Beethoven AND THE SINGLE CURRENCY. The anthem also forms part of Europe’s common heritage. First the Council of Europe (1972), then the EEC (1985) and now the EU have adopted the notes of the “Hymn to Joy”, taken from the Ninth Symphony, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1823. The official orchestral version is that of the famous conductor Herbert von Karajan: a musical hymn, without words, that is intended to express “the ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity pursued by Europe”. Alongside the flag and the notes of Beethoven, there is a third “icon” of united Europe – the Festival of Europe, annually celebrated on 9 May, a date that recalls the famous “Declaration” of French minister Robert Schuman, who in 1950 announced the first concrete project to restore peace and unity to a Europe reduced by two world wars by placing the production of coal and steel under the authority of a supranational institution (the future ECSC, 1951). The euro and the Constitution are gaining ground as elements of the visibility of the EU, although the former only circulates in 12 of the 25 member countries, while the latter has still to be signed, ratified and adopted by the Twenty-Five.