ABSTRACT
The institutions and founding texts of the emerging European Community mainly described European identity in terms of values: democracy, rule of law, human rights. These values, conceived as universal, are not distinctively European and as such not sufficient to substantiate a European identity. Since the 1970s, the celebration of European culture and cultural heritage has been a way for various European institutions and political actors to proclaim and illustrate European values. But while the scope of values enshrined in the European Union (EU) legal order was widening, the growing diversity of the EU’s population due to enlargements and international migrations has repeatedly posed the question of the EU’s boundaries as a community of values. Is the European ethos congruent with European culture and hence the product of specific cultural and historical backgrounds, or does a value-based European identity remain essentially inclusive for newcomers? This chapter explores the evolving answers given to this question from the 1970s until today by analysing the respective role and weight given to culture and values in the EU’ institutional approaches to European identity.
