Eurosceptic Concerns about National Identity in the European Union

Abstract

The deepening and expansion of the European Union has sparked an increase in Euroscepticism. This article explores one recurrent feature of Eurosceptic discourse: a grave concern for national identity. Arguing from a nationalistic point of view, one group claims that existing national identities should be protected from creeping Europeanisation. Other Eurosceptics hold that national identity and the nation state are the cornerstones of democracy. Consequently they see the development of the EU as a dangerous experiment. The article then proceeds to chart and examine the responses of the European Union to these Eurosceptic concerns. One of the conclusions is that the EU has been right largely to disregard the voices of doom. The argument that democracy can only function in nation states is open to discussion, and it there is no call to pander to the wishes of nationalist Eurosceptics whose celebration of national identity often borders on xenophobia.