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Civic and Ethnic Nationalism in European Union Identity Creation Andreas Bjørnbekk

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Civic and Ethnic Nationalism in European Union Identity Creation Andreas Bjørnbekk Civic and Ethnic Nationalism in European Union Identity Creation Andreas Bjørnbekk ARENA Report 2/20 Civic and Ethnic Nationalism in European Union Identity Creation Andreas Bjørnbekk Bjørnbekk has a Master in History from the University of Oslo. He was affiliated with ARENA through the an MA student grant. Copyright © ARENA and the author ISBN 978-82-8362-039-9 ARENA Report Series | ISSN 1504-8152 Issued by: ARENA Centre for European Studies University of Oslo P.O. Box 1143 Blindern 0318 Oslo, Norway www.arena.uio.no Oslo, November 2020 Abstract When in 1984 the European Council decided to appoint a committee to study which measures it could adopt in order to establish a ‘people’s Europe’, the European Economic Community entered a stage in its history which essen- tially began a process of national identity-building. Up until that point, the European project had mainly revolved around economic and institutional integration, without adopting vital aspects of what constitutes, in Benedict Anderson’s words, an ‘imagined community’. The recommendations from the Committee on a People’s Europe were clear; to establish symbols and initiatives which common people could identify with and participate in. During the two decades following the report, the European Union would come to fly its own flag, play its own anthem, provide four free- doms, and establish a common currency – many of them, if not all, inno- vations introduced in the pursuit of a common European identity. This report examines several EU identity creation initiatives, with the aim of understanding which concepts of nationalism they were founded on or intended to promote. As such, the report deals extensively with the con- cept of nationalism and identity, and splits the concept into two distinct categories: civic and ethnic nationalism. In doing so, the report dissects the Union’s documents and prior academic research to study some of the most prominent signifiers of the European Union to date. Acknowledgments The writing of this report has been one of my life’s most challenging un- dertakings. Imaginary blood, sweat, and tears have been spilt on the altar of European identity creation research, but as my mind almost exclusively wears rose-coloured glasses, I’m certain I will – in time – remember this period in my life fondly. I owe an immense amount of gratitude to my scholarly supervisor Kim Christian Priemel, who has offered invaluable advice and insight, reviewing my drafts in record time and in great depth, and helped make this report more multifaceted than I could’ve ever imag- ined. I also wish to thank advisor John Erik Fossum, who helped put the report back on track by inspiring the focus on nationalism, and ARENA Centre for European Studies for providing a great study environment. I thank my family and friends for having been there by my side, both by listening to my rants and by editing my work. Finally, I wish to thank my fiancé, Neven. We have gone through this process together, at times laughing, at other times screaming. You have motivated me, provided much-needed criticism, and made me proud of my work. For that I am eternally grateful, and remind you, once more – but far from the last time – that I love you more than anything. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: A people’s flag ................................................................................................................. 13 2.1 Nationalism and patriotism ..................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Flags and the nation .................................................................................................................. 18 2.3 The flag of Europe ..................................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Interpretations ........................................................................................................................... 24 2.5 The flag for everywhere and everything ............................................................................... 31 2.6 To arouse emotion, or not to arouse emotion ....................................................................... 33 2.7 Creating an identity .................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 3: An ode to Europe ............................................................................................................ 43 3.1 A brief history and analysis of national anthems ................................................................. 43 3.2 An ode to Europe ...................................................................................................................... 54 3.3 The banal anthem? .................................................................................................................... 61 Chapter 4: Europe coined and minted ............................................................................................ 65 4.1 A common currency ................................................................................................................. 67 4.2 Defining and creating a social group ..................................................................................... 68 4.3 Inspired by reality ..................................................................................................................... 73 4.4 Changing sources of legitimacy .............................................................................................. 75 4.5 Imagined communities ............................................................................................................. 78 4.6 Two sides of the same coin ...................................................................................................... 82 4.7 Uncertain future, yet strong support ...................................................................................... 84 Chapter 5: European Capitals of Culture and the city ................................................................. 89 5.1 Diverging nationalisms and the concepts of Europe’s ‘East’ and ‘West’ .......................... 90 5.2 A brief history of the European Capitals of Culture programme ........................................ 96 5.3 Defining culture......................................................................................................................... 99 5.4 The importance of culture ...................................................................................................... 101 5.5 The city and cosmopolitanism .............................................................................................. 102 5.6 The Capitals of Culture in practice ....................................................................................... 105 5.7 ECOC as an instrument of soft power ................................................................................. 109 5.8 The ethnic-civic hybrid ........................................................................................................... 112 Chapter 6: Intra-European mobility and the Erasmus programme ......................................... 115 6.1 The historical dimension of EU educational programme names ..................................... 116 6.2 Erasmus and the creation of Europeans .............................................................................. 118 6.3 The importance of mobility ................................................................................................... 121 6.4 Effects of the programme on identity ................................................................................... 124 6.5 Barriers to participation ......................................................................................................... 127 6.6 Mobility and Erasmus as signifiers of civic nationalism ..................................................... 129 Chapter 7: Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 131 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 140 Primary sources ............................................................................................................................. 140 Secondary sources: ........................................................................................................................ 150 Chapter 1 Introduction Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, stated in 1950: ‘Europe has never existed […] Europe has to be genuinely created […]’.1 In the decade that followed, European states would take their first steps toward unification when only a decade before, total war had led the continent of Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci, Anna Komnene and Miguel de Cervantes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Marie Curie, to the brink of ruin. But economic and institutional integration would soon bind old rivals and newfound allies closer together, and in the course of the latter half of Eu- rope’s bloodiest century, a Community became a Union.2 As the memory of war faded and the immediate reasons for common so- lutions appeared to dwindle, it became clear to European officials that the European project required a more profound
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