ABSTRACT
This chapter explores whether the citizenship narrative is a 'good' plot for talking a European identity into being does not make a normative moral claim. It examines that the citizenship narrative is functional for constructing collective identities. Citizenship is, as some claim, a well-functioning narrative not only in the context of national unification but also in the context of European unification. The 'citizenship narrative', it will be argued, is an interpretative scheme that is attributed to the practical life of people in a political community. Citizenship is therefore more than a functional element in a viable strategy for governing societies where people permanently cross the borders of the national container. Citizenship narratives in which people do not share values and habits yet recognise each other as equal citizens are extremely vulnerable because such narratives do not do what identities have to do: provide boundaries.
