ABSTRACT
Two beliefs are often expressed more or less explicitly in connection with discussions of European political integration. The first holds that it is possible to continue the process of economic integration without a parallel process of political integration. This belief can be seen as grounded in a long-established technocratic economic doctrine within the European Union. It holds that cooperation among European states, as long as it is beneficial to all in economic terms, would also get public support. The second holds that political integration in Europe is unlikely, if not impossible, because of the existing cultural heterogeneity, language being the most important obstacle. Any effort at political integration implies an impossible or unwanted policy of cultural homogenisation: ‘Put simply, democratic politics is politics in the vernacular’ (Kymlicka 2001: 213). Peaceful coexistence and stability through political integration can be best achieved when ‘ethnos’ and ‘demos’ overlap with the boundaries of the nation state.
