ABSTRACT
It is often assumed that European values have been an essential and clearly defined part of the project of European integration since its inception in the 1950s. This chapter argues instead that only recently – from the late 1990s onwards – European institutions increasingly started to refer to “European values”, precisely because these values lack a clear and substantial content. Moreover, the chapter shows that when values were invoked at all before the 1990s, they were mostly invoked by Christian politicians in a conservative sense which differs from its current widespread liberal and secular use by European institutions. It is then explained why, at the turn of the century, these institutions increasingly invoked “European values” (in part because more ambitious alternatives proved less successful) and how this recent liberal version of “European values” was challenged by a populist interpretation of these values, notably in the context of the “refugee crisis”. The chapter then also shows how the liberal nature of European values is criticised by the left and how the emphasis on European values reveals doubts about Europe’s place in the world. Finally, the chapter argues that the lack of conceptual clarity of these values should not be seen as a problem.
