ABSTRACT
At first glance, the European Union would seem ill-suited to a discussion of myth and collective memory. Often described as a post-modern polity, one that eschews the modern appeals to the bonds of the nation, its central claim to legitimate political authority is that it provides a “rational” basis for governing. The reasons for creating an “ever closer” union are to be found in the search for the most effective way to solve common problems. If there was ever a case to be made for the declining importance of political myth, indeed even of collective memory, for holding a society together as it tries to govern itself, the European Union would seem to be the obvious place to start. The central narrative of the European project is that it is the antithesis of the nation and the state, devoid of appeals to ethnicity, primordial ties, and the vertical organization of political power based on notions of sovereignty. A united Europe was to be the beacon of a future where political authority was fluid, based on consensus, and free of traditional forms of political power.
