National Community, Citizenship and Cultural Diversity

Abstract: The study addresses the question of citizenship and identity in the European Union. It is argued that access to citizenship in the EU is a neglected but important element in the construction of a community of citizens, not least because Member states face substantial immigration of third country nationals. Four policy options for harmonising access to individual membership in the Community are examined. The solution which is proposed strikes a balance between the normative principle of equality of access, the practical and ethical problem of integrating third country nationals, and the need to preserve national sovereignty to the largest extent possible. Questions of citizenship are inherently linked with the construction of collective identity. Any model of citizenship is based on a certain understanding of what the collectivity of citizens has in common. The "rights deficit" of Union citizenship which is due to the lack of substance of the respective provisions correspondsto an "identity deficit" in the EU. Neither national, republican, nor societal approaches to identity formation seem appropriate to accommodate and articulate the various national identities at the European level. Therefore, only a hybrid form of identity is likely to develop based on multinational federalism and common citizenship.;