Dual citizenship?” “

“A French parliamentarian has adopted ‘no to Turkey’ as his electoral slogan, which may be interpreted as a definition of the European identity based on exclusion, a negative definition. But how can a positive definition be given to the European identity?”. That’s the question posed by FRANCOIS BOURSIER , professor of history at the Catholic University of Lyon (UCL), in introducing the round table on “The question of the European identity”, held at UCL on 11 May. “Since the Fifties – he continued – Europe has undergone a development of which the treaty of Maastricht marked the real watershed. For, on its basis we have become European citizens as well as citizens of our own member states. How should these two levels be articulated? What is our heritage and what will be our frontiers?”. We present some reflections made during the debate. PATIENCE AND MEMORY. “In the construction and representation of identity, what matters in the first place are homeland, both in its real and symbolic sense, and the economic activity a person practices; in the second place customs, culture, religion and memory. Western thought has inherited from Greek and biblical thought the convention of assigning to each person one single identity. From the importance attributed by Roman and Germanic law to the social dimension and to contractual relations, it has inherited in turn the significance that the other person has in the definition and recognition of this identity: ‘I am I because I am recognised as such by you’. It is from this recognition we need to start out in building a ‘polysemic’ identity in Europe which may take due account both of specific linguistic and historical/ cultural traditions and of fundamental common traits. The second step is: how can the two levels be linked? The answer lies in creating a ‘philosophy of the recognition of self and of the other person’. So we need to preserve both the individual identity and the European identity by rediscovering the literal and noblest sense of ‘compromise’ and working in the twofold dimension of time: the past, and hence the future of memory; and the future, whose value lies in patience”. (BRUNO-MARIE DUFFE, head of the Institute of Human Rights at the Catholic University of Lyon) “ECUMENICAL PLURALISM”. “The question of ‘identity’ cannot be tackled without first considering the concept of ‘homeland’. If I remember my first ‘little homeland’, the image that springs to my mind is that of a large garden with storks’ nests, the peaceful countryside round Warsaw. Later, when I began to travel, I began to perceive as my homeland the surrounding mountains, Switzerland, El Salvador, all countries that have fascinated me and where I’ve felt at home. The secret of Europe lies in this pluralism, understood as the cherishing of cultural richness and diversity; indeed I would call it ‘ecumenical pluralism’, to use the term dear to a former German head of state, Richard Von Weizsaecker: ‘ecumenical’ in the sense of the search for a common basis of values, without which no society can survive. It is ‘ecumenical pluralism’ we must aim at, also through the dialogue between the Christian, Jewish and Moslem religions, which must be purified from distorted interferences and interpretations. A good example of the spirit that ought to imbue the construction of the European identity is furnished by the “Declaration of the Christians, Jews and Muslims of Europe” signed in Krakow on 29 May 2003. So our task of Europeans is to construct a ‘spiritual homeland’, or rather a multitude of spiritual homelands, whose foundations must however be shared; a rich and composite, but nevertheless homogeneous, homeland.” ( STEFAN WILKANOWICZ, president of the Foundation for Christian Culture (ZNAK) in Krakow) BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. “I was born in the Saar, the frontier region bitterly contested between France and Germany. My grandmother, who was born in 1900, changed nationality five times in the course of her life, without ever moving from her village. In Germany it’s difficult to tackle the problem of identity, with which extremely painful memories are bound up. The German Constitution is based on rationality. I propose that a European identity be constructed on the basis of the patriotism of the Constitution, but on a rationality that is not translated into the aridity or the lack of democracy and transparency of which Europe is so often accused. In this enterprise, a role of great importance is played by Christianity, which provides the continent with its spiritual values and directs it towards the goals of peace, freedom and justice. The current debate on the possible entry of Turkey into the EU demonstrates that Europe is more than a mere market. Turkey symbolises the difficult relation between East and West and, at the same time, recalls the need to abandon bipolarism and proceed to an effective intercultural pluralism”. ( CRISTOPH BRAB, representative of the Central Committee of German Catholics – ZDK) From Lyon, Maria Lyra Traversa ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1299 N.ro relativo : 39 Data pubblicazione : 26/05/2004