European political identity, foreign policy and the Others’ image: An underexplored relationship

The literature on European identity is large and ever growing and approa-

ches to the topic variegated,1 but none of them focuses on the impact that foreign policy2 has on the process of identity-building. Such an absence of

focus on foreign policy is striking, particularly if we consider that, accord-

ing to the Eurobarometer surveys, not only do Europeans have their own

image of the role of the European Union (EU3) in the world, but they tend

to find the EU’s international stance legitimate, positive and worth pursuing

(Eurobarometer 2007; Transatlantic Trends 2006).