Political Symbolism and European Integration Theiler, Tobias
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www.ssoar.info Political Symbolism and European Integration Theiler, Tobias Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Monographie / monograph Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Theiler, T. (2005). Political Symbolism and European Integration. (Europe in Change). Manchester: Manchester University Press. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-67784-0 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY Lizenz (Namensnennung) zur This document is made available under a CC BY Licence Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden (Attribution). For more Information see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/deed.de POLITICAL SYMBOLISM AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION MANCHESTER 1824 Manchester University Press series editors: Thomas Christiansen and Cmil K irchner already published The formation of Croatian national identity A centuries old dream ALEX J. BELLAMY Committee governance in the European Union THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN AND EMIL KIRCHNER (EDS) Theory and reform in the European Union, 2nd edition DIMITRIS N. CHRYSSOCHOOU, MICHAEL J. TSINISIZELIS, STELIOS STAVR1DIS AND KOSTAS IFANTIS German policy-making and eastern enlargement of the EU during the Kohl era Managing the agenda? STEPHEN D. COLLINS The European Union and the Cyprus conflict THOMAS DEE2 The changing European Commission DIONYSSIS INMITRAKOPOULOS (ED.) Reshaping Economic and Monetary Union SHAWN DONNELLY The time of European governance MAGNUS EKENGREN An introduction to post-Communist Bulgaria EMIL GIATZEDIS Mothering the Union ROBERTA GUERRINA The new Germany and migration in Europe BARBARA MARSHALL Turkey: facing a new millennium AMIKAM NACHMAN! 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CHRYSSOCHOOU T obias Theiler POLITICAL SYMBOLISM AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Tobias Theiler 2005 The right of Tobias Theiler to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.mainchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6994 7 hardback RAN 978 0 7190 6994 9 First published 2005 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset in Minion with Lithos by Action Publishing Technology Ltd, Gloucester Printed in Great Britain by Biddles, King’s Lynn Contents Acknowledgements page vii Introduction 1 1 Political symbolism and the social construction of the European Union 8 2 Political symbolism in practice 28 3 Cultural policy 54 4 Audiovisual policy 87 5 The ‘European dimension’ in schools 113 6 Political symbolism and the future of European integration 147 References 162 Index 186 A cknowledgements This book has been a long time in the making and numerous people helped me along the way. Thanks to Lars-Erik Cederman, Anne Deighton, Jean Laponce and William Wallace for helping me frame the topic and for their feedback and encouragement at various stages. I am also grateful to the editors of the Europe in Change series, Thomas Christiansen and Emil Kirchner for their many helpful suggestions, to Tony Mason at Manchester University Press for his kind and patient support, and to all his colleagues at MUP who helped bring this book into being. Many more people supported this book directly and indirectly. They include Stefan Auer, John Baker, Jean Brennan, John Coakley, Heather Cooper, Daniel Dunne, Kevin Farrell, Tom Garvin, David Glass, Dietmar Grypa, Jean de Lannoy, Rene Gorenfto, Lesley Hay, Katy Hayward, Susan Henders, Kevin Howard, Salvo Laudani, Jennifer Jackson-Preece and Steven Preece, Fraser MacDonald, Claire Mitchell, Diane Morgan, Cornelia Navari, Turlogh O’Riordan, Don Pittis and Christa Salamandra. I am also indebted to my colleagues in the Politics Department at University College Dublin and to my family back in Switzerland. My research benefited from the help of many current and former European Union officials who agreed to be interviewed and to give me access to documents. While they must remain anonymous I thank them all for their time and cooperation. I would like to acknowledge an Overseas Research Scholarship from the British government, an Oxford Overseas Bursary and various conference grants from the University of Oxford, a scholarship from the Canton of Bern and travel and conference money from the European Consortium for Political Research, the British International Studies Association, Linacre College Oxford and the European U nion. Introduction 29 May 1986 was an important day in the history of European integration. Such at least is the impression conveyed in an official account by the European Commission of what happened on that day. It reports a ‘solemn ceremony’ outside its headquarters in Brussels, staged to mark the official inauguration of the newly adopted Community flag. The ceremony, accord ing to the Commission, took place in an atmosphere of festivity and youth: schoolchildren waving small European flags, Community civil servants in relaxed mood, astonished passers- by and Sandra Kim, the young Belgian singer from an Italian family, performing her song ‘J’aime la vie’, which won the 1986 Eurovision song contest. (Commission 1987a: 4; see also Bulletin 1986 [No. 4], point 2.1.81) There was more music. While the Community flag (whose circle of twelve golden stars was similar to that on the much older Council of Europe flag) was being raised for the first time, the Communities’ Choir sang Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’, the Community anthem. In his speech to mark the occasion, Commission president Jacques Delors ‘expressed the wish that the blue and gold flag “might be a symbol for Europeans of endless hope nurtured by our ideal and our struggle”’. And Pierre Pflimlin, president of the European Parliament, ‘proclaimed the wish that this emblem be “the symbol of peace ful struggle for European Union”’ (Commission 1987a: 4). Yet the story of the Community flag had many facets that went unmen tioned in the Commission’s cheerful rendering. For instance, strictly speaking the item raised at the flag-raising ceremony was not, after all, a flag. Rather, it was a Community ‘logo’, - or ‘emblem’ - that was eligible to be reproduced on rectangular pieces of fabric, among other objects. Such was the semantic compromise that had emerged when the Council of Permanent Representatives approved the quasi-flag on behalf of the member states, after A ru w n C A i örM2JULJÖM AJVi? BUKUF jKAA /W’rfüKA'JJÜW years of intense lobbying by the European Parliament and the Commission and a series of reports partially devoted to the issue? Furthermore, the formal inauguration of the Community logo led to acrimonious wrangles about its use. Was it to be displayed mainly on Europe Day alongside national ‘logos’ or on national holidays as well? Should European athletes wear it at the Olympic Games, either in conjunction with their national emblems or even in their place? Should public works projects acknowledge Community subsidies by displaying the Community logo? Should the British government be repri manded for refusing to display it on car licence plates and on most public buildings on Europe Day? Should the logo find its way into classrooms, airports, train stations and onto postage stamps, as the European Commission and Parliament have frequently advocated since? This study examines the events surrounding the adoption of the European logo and it probes into many other initiatives aimed at shoring up popular support for European integration. From the early 1970s there was a growing perception, mainly within the European Parliament and the Commission, that popular support for European integration was not solid and that this threatened the future development and even the survival of the Community? This stimulated various attempts to enhance the Community’s image through ‘identity policies’ (de Witte 1987:135) in areas such as culture, education and audiovisual policy. In addition to plans for a European flag and anthem this included efforts to promote a European lottery, ‘European rooms’ in national museums, student and youth exchanges, a European tele vision channel, the ‘correction’ of history textbooks, a ‘European dimension’ in national school curricula and many similar measures. Yet these initiatives were neither uncontroversial nor unanimously successful. Some, such as proposals for a European flag, were eventually adopted and at least partially implemented. Others were accepted by the member states in the form of non-binding resolutions or declarations but were never put into practice. The third and largest category of ‘identity policy’ proposals stumbled from the outset over resistance mounted by shifting configurations of national governments, despite their skilful promotion by the Commission and the EP.