ABSTRACT
Many authors have discussed issues connected with the EU's quest for more legitimacy through establishing a collective identity (Risse 2010; Kaina 2009; Karolewski 2009; Kaina & Karolewski 2009; Checkel & Katzenstein 2009; Karolewski & Kaina 2006). Decreasing popular support makes every political system prone to crises and stress (Easton 1979) and the EU is no exception. Since there has been a declining support for the EU among European citizens since the early 1990s (Kaina & Karolewski 2009, p. 6), the issue of the EU's legitimacy appears to have an increasing relevance. Research on European integration deals increasingly frequently with two questions: how much pressure the EU can withstand in order to persist; and what unites the organisation in times of economic crisis, conflict and threat (Kaina & Karolewski 2009, p. 5).
