ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the political and the economic elites view as ethnic/ascribed as significantly less important in regard to national and to European identity than the broader population evaluates them to be. The legacy of two world wars and the Cold War has also left its mark. Especially the intergovernmental theory of integration conceptualized European integration as a strategy of national governments to gain welfare and security in the context of rising challenges posed by internationalization and globalization. Conceptualizations range from conflicting identities over multiple, harmonizing identities to multiple identities, mutually reinforcing each other. The attitudinal patterns deviate somewhat from the historical dichotomy of ethnic and civic nations and seem to be linked to day-to-day experiences of ascribed versus achievable characteristics and some other less clearly defined attributes. Attachment to Europe concurs with a preference for the EU as preferred policy level, and with support for an ongoing European unification.
