EUROPEAN IDENTITY FROM

HOMELAND IDENTITY

SENIOR UNIVERSITY

Isabel Granullaque / Maria Teresa Cela / José Manuel Malde / Rafael López / Isabel Cainzos / Alberto Langtry / José Martinez / Pilar Rico / María Jesús Iglesias / José Manuel

Vales

2011 – 2012 COURSE

THE EUROPE OF THE XXI CENTURY

The twenty-first century Europe consisting of twenty-seven countries with 499.2 million people, as it is known today involves multiple characteristics, such as different languages, customs, cultures, political power, currency, social services, religion, etc., that have marked and still do the path of our European Union to create its own identity and as Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher said:

“Europe is the only continent that has a content”.

Despite the efforts to create an European identity, the research of comparative analysis, between countries, of the relative importance of the regional, national and European identities, are very scarce. The meaning of the European identity is nevertheless analyzed by the relative importance of the political, economic, geographic contents and of values and traditions of this identity. The results point out that systematic variations in the relative importance and interrelationship among the different countries and highlights the different meanings that Europe has in these countries and localities.

Let’s recall a bit of History……..

Usually, the European integration process is focused exclusively on the period after the Second World War but this point of view ignores the great changes that, over the earlier years had given shape to what it is now called Europe.

The origin of Europe can be located in Ancient times, when the different peoples who occupied it geographically could interact with one another, either by peaceful communication, or by the invasion and submission of one another, maintaining relationships that contributed to the creation of a culture, trade of goods and interchange of knowledge.

For the historical background, we can say that the first people who contributed to the exchange of skills and training of an emerging identity among the various prehistoric peoples who inhabited the different boundaries of what we now consider Europe is due to the Phoenicians. They had their origins in the eastern Mediterranean where they had developed the techniques that most contributed to the exchange between different peoples, navigation, allowing the spread of their culture and the exchange of raw materials needed for development. One of the most significant settlement was Carthage, founded by the Phoenicians gave rise to the Carthaginian Empire, which exercised its influence throughout the western

Mediterranean, conquering towns and imposing their culture, by absorbing some of them and conquering others, as it happened with the Tartessos, until the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome, the Carthaginians were completely destroyed by Rome

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Other people in the origin of Europe are The Ancient Greeks, who developed an important culture influenced by the Phoenicians and in turn they became the “cradle” of the Romans. It is generally regarded as the “seminal culture” which provided the foundation of the Western civilization. The culture of Greece had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which spread it through many territories

in Europe.

The expansion of Rome, after the defeat of the Carthaginian Empire, gave birth to the Roman Empire. Because of its extensive development it is considered to be “the cradle” of Western civilization, encompassing everything that today we can call Europe from Eastern to Western Europe, the whole basin of the Mediterranean, reaching its limits at what is now United Kingdom, Germany, etc. In order to enable communications, they were the first who crossed their Empire by land communication routes, works which currently persist and are the basis of many existing technologies. The Roman Empire passed on its knowledge and language, the Latin, which was their official language, to all the peoples

under their rule.

The Middle Ages brought the idea of unification under the banner of Christendom. The ideas of eurocentrism and superiority of Europe and European civilization arose at the time. Historic figures have pursued in one way or another, the idea of Europe: Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon, Metternich, Hitler ..., some of them sadly celebrated.

The “Camino de Santiago” (St James’s Way) constituted one of the major communication routes that integrated and promoted the culture of the different peoples that formed the Europe in the medieval times. It

was together with Rome and Jerusalem the most important pilgrimage of the Christian world at the time.

Many intellectuals, philosophers and thinkers, from Rousseau to Marx, and from Kant to Leibniz, proposed the idea of a European Community as a long-term desirable objective. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment spread across Europe ideas of tolerance, freedom, respect for human rights and democracy on which the European Union is based.

Background to the process of integration

1918 – 1939

For many people the First World War (1914-1918) was the beginning of the end of European civilization. Others, the least, understood that the resilience capacity of Europe deepened on overcoming the aggressive nationalisms that had led the continent to the disaster and in the adoption of the ideal of a United and Peaceful Europe as a common project. In 1923 the Austrian Count Coudenhove-Kalergi founded the Pan-Europe Movement. In 1926 he succeeded in gathering some outstanding political figures in the first Pan-European Congress in Vienna.

"Europe as a political concept does not exist. This part of the World encompasses the world peoples and states that are installed in chaos, on a barrel

of gunpowder of international conflicts, and in a fertile ground for future conflicts. This is the European issue: the mutual hatred of Europeans that poisons the atmosphere. The European Issue will only be resolved by uniting the peoples of Europe… The biggest barrier to the achievement of the United States of Europe is the thousand years of rivalry between the two most populous nations of Pan-Europe: Germany and France…"

Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi Pan-Europa 1923

The pan-European movement had its golden peak in the second half of the 20s, the years of concord, the years of the Locarno Treaty and the Briand-Kellog Pact.

In 1929, Aristide Briand, French Prime Minister, gave a celebrated speech to the Assembly of the League of Nations in which he proposed the idea of a federation of European nations based on solidarity and in the pursuit of economic prosperity and political and social cooperation. The speech was greatly welcomed by the German government and among many economists, especially the British.

"I believe that a sort of federal bond should exist between the nations geographically gathered as Europe countries; these nations should, at any moment, have the possibility of establishing contact, of discussing their interests, of adopting

common resolutions, of creating amongst themselves a bond of solidarity that allows them, on suitable occasions, to face up to serious circumstances, in case they arise… Evidently, the association will take place mainly in the economic domain: this is the most pressing question..."

Speech of Aristide Briand in the presence of League of Nations General Assembly, Geneva,5th September 1929

The League of Nations asked Briand to present a memorandum with a detailed project. The French politician submitted a “Memorandum on the organization of a

system of European Federal Union” in 1930. It was too late. The economic depression had begun to sweep away the ideas of solidarity and cooperation in international relations. People who went on advocating the European Union, such as the French politician Edouard Herriot who published: “The United States of Europe in 1931, were a minority”.

Adolf Hitler's rise to the post of German chanceller in 1933 involved the definitive end of the European harmony and the rebirth of the monster of nationalism in its worst form. Europe and, with her, the world were heading for a new catastrophe. 1945 – 1957

Europe had to witness the Second World War (1939-1945), so that it fully becomes aware of the suicidal absurdity that the nationalist rivalry had led the continent to. The necessity of some kind of European integration in a new way to re-order the European political map became evident.

Three realities showed the necessity of a new orientation towards the European integration:

• The Europeans' awareness of their own weakness. The Second World War had put a definitive end to the traditional European hegemony in the world. The two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, had a very superior economic, political and military power than the heterogeneous group of European States.

• The conviction that it was necessary to avoid, by all possible means, coming back to a confrontation among European States. The two world wars had begun as European “civil wars” and our continent had been the main battle field in both. Essentially, it was a question of searching for an arrangement between France and Germany that could get the approval of the USA. The European integration will pave the way to guarantee peace.

• In the third place, the desire, extended among many Europeans, of creating a freer, fairer and more prosperous continent in which the international relationships could be developed in a framework of concord.

In 1946, the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a celebrated speech at Zurich University (Switzerland). It was considered to be, by many people, the first step towards European integration in the postwar period.

“I wish to speak to you today about the tragedy of Europe... Among the victors there is only a Babel of voices. Among the vanquished there is nothing but silence and despair… There is a remedy which, if it were generally and spontaneously adopted by the great majority of the people of the many lands, would transform, as if by a miracle, the whole scene, and make all Europe, or the greater part of it, as free and as happy as Switzerland is today. What is this supreme remedy? It is to recreate the European Family, or, at least, while we cannot reconstitute it, to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe… To undertake this urgent task there must be a partnership between France and Germany."

Winston Churchill Discurso en la Universidad de Zúrich 19 de Septiembre de 1946

The United States, unlike what they did after the First World War, did not opt for isolation and assumed their responsibility as the first world power by adopting a policy based on resolved intervention in European matters. The American government was convinced that the obstacles to free trade spread after the 1929 slump, that reached its maximum expression in the Nazi and Fascist autarchy, had been largely responsible of the international tensions that led to the Second World War. The implementation of a free trade policy became a basic condition for any country to receive the so desired American economic aid.

The United States, applying the so-called “Truman Doctrine” with the purpose to curb the expansion of communism and of the Soviet Union, launched the “Marshall Plan” to alleviate the economic difficulties of the European countries. It was to foster the economic development in a destroyed Europe, with the political objective of preventing the spreading of communism. The USA promoted the foundation of a centralized European organization to manage and organize the delivery of the massive economic help of the Plan Marshall. The Organization for the European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was established with this aim in 1948. This was one of the first institutions that joined a great part of Western European countries together. OEEC helped to liberalize the trade among the member States, introduced ideas in favour of monetary agreements and developed the economic

cooperation in general. In 1949, following again an American initiative, most of the Western democratic European States founded, alongside the USA and Canada, NATO, the great Western military alliance confronted with the Soviet Union.

One year earlier, in 1948, the Benelux (Customs Union between Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) had started working with the application of a common external tariff. This Union had been created in 1944, before the end of the Second World War.

Another major step forward was the setting up of the Council of Europe, in 1949. The Council tried to promote political cooperation among European countries. However, its statutes did not claim as an objective, either the union or the federation of States, and no sort of surrender of sovereignty is expected from the member States. Their main function has been to reinforce the democratic system and the human rights in the member States.

The first step in the process of the foundation of the European Community was given by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. On May 1950 he made a speech proposing a plan, inspired by Jean Monnet, to integrate and manage the common pooling Franco-German coal and steel production. This plan of economic integration looked for developing the approach between France and Germany, moving definitively away the haunt of war in Europe.

“Gentlemen, It is no longer a question of vain words but of a bold constructive act. France has acted and the consequences of its action can be immense. We hope they will be. France has acted primarily for peace.... and associates Germany. Europe will be born from this, a Europe which is solidly united around a strong framework. It will be a Europe where the standard of living will rise by grouping together production and expanding markets, which will encourage the lowering of prices…. Europe will not be made at once, or according to a single plan of construction. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. The French Government proposes that Franco-German production

of coal and steel as a whole should be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organization opened to the participation of the other

countries of Europe.

Declaración Schuman 9 de Mayo de 1950

The Treaty of Paris was signed on April 18, 1951, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), when the Schuman Plan of 1950 became a reality.The common High Authority of the ECSC was presided by Jean Monnet. Six countries joined the first European Community: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg. “The Six”.

The foreign ministers of the Six, presided over by the Belgian Paul Henri Spaak, met in a Conference in Messina (Italy) in 1955. The agreements they reached there, meant a definitive step in the European construction: the 25th March 1957, “The Six” signed the Treaties of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

The Treaties of Rome and the evolution of the EEC

1957-1986

On March 25, 1957, two treaties were signed in Rome that gave birth to the European Economic Community (EEC) and to European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom): the Treaties of Rome. The signatories of the historic agreement were Christian Pineau on behalf of France, Joseph Luns from the Netherlands, Paul Henri Spaak from Belgium, Joseph Bech from Luxemburg, Antonio Segni from Italy and Konrad Adenauer from the Federal Republic of Germany. The Treaty of Rome was ratified by National Parliaments in The Six countries over the following months and came into force on January 1st, 1958.

The Treaty establishing the EEC affirmed in its preamble that signatory States were "determined to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the european peoples”. In fact, the brand new institution was a customs union. As a consequence, the EEC was colloquially known as "Common Market". The member countries agreed to dismantle all tariff barriers over a 12-year transitional period. In view of the

economic success that freer commercial exchanges brought about, the transitory term was shortened and in July 1968 all tariffs among the EEC States were abolished. At the same time, a common tariff

was established for all the products coming from third countries.

As a matter of fact, the common market meant exclusively free circulation of goods. Free movement of persons, capitals and services continued to be subject to numerous limitations. And it was necessary to wait until the Single European Act, in 1987, when a definitive boost was given to establish a genuine unified

market.

The EEC was based on a series of institutions: the European Commission, the European Council, the European Assembly, later known as European Parliament, the Court of Justice and the Economic and Social Committee, whose competences were enlarged and modified in the several agreements and treaties in the following years of the Treaty of Rome.

It was, in short, to initiate a process put in motion, in which progressive economic integration was paving the way to the final

goal of political union, a union which was planned as a long-term objective.

The main political problem that the EEC had to face in its early years was the absence of the United Kingdom. The British government refused to participate for different reasons:

• The importance of its commercial, political and, even, sentimental bonds with its colonies and former colonies, most of them integrated in the Commonwealth.

• Its refusal to join a customs union. The British government defended the establishment of a free trade area, in which the internal customs rights were abolished, but national governments would maintain their competences of enacting their own tariffs with regard to third countries.

• The fact that Britain was totally opposed to embarking on a project whose long-term aim was to surrender the sovereignty of national states to supranational European institutions. In other words, the British were, and many of them still remain, very far from the objective of a European political union.

After unsuccessful negotiations for accession to the EEC, the British government proposed the creation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which joined Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Austria and Portugal. This Association, which did not agree to any project of political integration, was a mere free trade area, mainly industrial, and did not contain any common tariff.

The British soon realized its mistake. Whereas the EEC witnessed a spectacular economic growth, with growth rates in the sixties clearly superior to those in America, Great Britain continued its downward trend as compared to the Continent.

Thus, in August 1961, the British Prime Minister requested the initiation of negotiations for UK entry. However, after several attempts of negotiations, the French leader, Charles De Gaulle, determined to build what he called a "Europe of nations" that should be independent of the two superpowers confronted during the "Cold War", and suspicious of the close British links with Washington, he vetoed Britain's entry into the EEC in 1963. When in 1967 the Labour government of Harold Wilson, again requested to join the EEC, the French general, once more vetoed the accession of the United Kingdom.

De Gaulle, in spite of defending a strong Europe before USA and USSR, never believed in a politically united Europe. In his view, the national independence of France, the country that he tried boldly to maintain in a role of power, was a nonnegotiable issue. De Gaulle's nationalism brought about the “empty chair crisis” in 1966, that kept the Community paralyzed for seven months and that, finally, concluded with the so-called Commitment of Luxemburg.

It was not until the resignation of De Gaulle in 1969, for reasons of political home affairs, a year after the French “May 68”, that the possibility of British accession was opened up.

Overcoming the opposition of a significant section of the British public, to the accession to the EEC and clearly "anti-European," negotiations finally came to an end successfully in 1972.

In 1973, three new countries joined the CEE: United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland. The Europe of the Nine was born.

The Norwegian people, contradicting their own government's opinion, voted against entering the EEC. Henceforth, Norway has since stayed apart from the Community.

The "oil crisis" of 1973 put an end to a period of spectacular economic growth the European countries had enjoyed for many years. Unemployment, inflation

and the crisis of traditional industrial sectors characterized the economic landscape of the EEC in the second half of the seventies and early eighties. Despite the fact that some journalists coined the terms "Euroscepticism" and "Eurosclerosis" to refer to an integration process that seemed to fade, the fact of the matter is that over these years some important advancements took place, Not only a higher level of integration was achieved, but the process of enlargement proceeded.

• From 1975 the denominated European Council was instituted as a periodical meeting of Heads of State or Government. This was to be the institution where major long-term decisions would be agreed.

• In1979, the European Monetary System (EMS) came into force. At the same time, the European Currency Unit (ECU), direct predecessor of the Euro, was born. Member countries' currencies were tied in a narrow 2.5% band of fluctuation and national governments committed to coordinate their monetary policies. This was the first significant step towards the

monetary union. • The first elections to the European

Parliament by direct universal suffrage were also held in 1979.

The end of the military dictatorships in Greece (1974), Portugal (1974) and Spain (Franco died in 1975) made possible the accession of these nations. Greece, in 1981, Spain and Portugal, in 1986, became new members of the EEC. The Community was enlarged towards the

Mediterranean Europe and Spain managed to accomplish an old aspiration.

• In 1984, a group of European parliamentarians, led by the Italian Altiero Spinelli submitted to Parliament a "Project Treaty on European Union", in proposing the adoption of a new treaty to replace the one of Rome and that constituted an important step in European integration. In spite of not been approved by the governments, the scheme’s merit was to re-launch the debate on the future of the Community, anticipating developments that would take place in the nineties.

• In 1985, the three Benelux countries, France and Germany signed the so-called Schengen Agreement. Most of the members of most EU

countries would join in subsequent years. Thus began an ambitious initiative to ensure the free movement of persons and the gradual removal of frontiers among the

community states.

In the second half of the eighties, the integration process received an important political impulse, largely due to Jacques Delors. A French Socialist, he was elected president of the European Commission in 1985. The first step was the adoption of the Single European Act, in 1986.

1986 – 1992

The Single European Act signed in 1986 and came into effect on January 1st, 1987. It was the first modification of the founding treaties of the European Communities, i.e., the Treaty of Paris of 1951 created the ECSC, and the treaties of Rome instituting the EEC and EURATOM.

Jacques Delors, Chairman of the Committee, summarized the main objectives of the Single Act with these words:

"The Single Act means, in a few words, the commitment of implementing simultaneously the great market without frontiers, more economic and social cohesion, an European research and technology policy, the strengthening of the European Monetary System, the beginning of an European social area and significant actions in environment".

New features introduced by the Single Act:

• In the institutional field, establishes the existence of the European Council, i.e., the regular meeting of Heads of State and Government, as the organism where take place the large political negotiations between the Member States and the major strategic decisions are made. The European Parliament was also slightly strengthened his powers.

• The main measure was collected in the following article: "the Community shall adopt measures aimed at the gradual establishment of the single market during a period ending on 31 December 1992..." this will mean an area without frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured ". This ambitious aspiration, identified 282 concrete measures was widely achieved on schedule. The common market became a full reality.

• Measures were decided to coordinate monetary policy of States members, paving the way towards the goal of economic and Monetary Union.

• The single act approved various initiatives to promote integration in the field of social rights (health and safety of workers), research and technology, and the environment.

• To achieve the objective of a greater economic and social cohesion between the various countries and regions of the community agreed reform and the financial support to the so-called Structural funds (European Fund of orientation and guarantee agricultural (EAGGF), European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF), already established in the Treaty of Roma. )

The Single European Act was an important boost in the integration process. The protagonist had been the Chairman of the Commission Jacques Delors. This not only French Socialist promoted the Unions a basic element in the process of integration, but to balance the progress of the business unit that directly benefited employers, he proposed the adoption of a Social Charter guaranteed social minimum standards to all European workers.

The policy of Delors was totally contrary to the positions of the British "premier" Margaret Thatcher. The British Conservative leader had starred, along with us President Ronald Reagan, what has been termed the "neo-liberal revolution": less State intervention in the economy and in social protection, deregulation of the economic sectors, decline of the power of trade unions, tax cuts, etc. In addition, since the first half of the 1980s, the "Iron Lady" had been highlighted by its policy against advances in European integration and the creation of a European power, struggling to reduce the British contribution to the Community budget.

In a famous speech at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium) September 20, 1988, Margaret Thatcher reflected his "Euro-skeptic" position:

"Trying to delete the concept of nation and trying to concentrate power in a European body would very damaging..." We do not need new regulations that raise the cost of labor and giving to the less competitive than our foreign suppliers and flexible labor market... "We will fight against attempts to introduce collectivism in Britain and corporatism at European level...what people want to do in their own country is their own business."

The response of Jacques Delors took a year to appear. Before the events that, to general amazement, were taking place in central Europe and Eastern in the key year of 1989, the President of the Commission called to speed up the process of

European integration:

"History is accelerating and we must do it with her..."

French politician was looking at that time one of the key of the 20th century historical phenomena: the collapse of the communist systems in the countries of central and Eastern Europe, whose symbol was the fall of the Berlin wall on 9 November 1989, and the crisis of the Soviet Union culminating with the fall of the Communist regime and the disintegration of the State in 1991. That same year the break-up of Yugoslavia again brought war on the old continent, after a

period of peace which had lasted since 1945.

The first result that brought to Europe was Germany reunification in October 1990. The Federal Republic of Germany, with 80 million inhabitants and 30% of the GNP of the EEC, turned into a power that exceeded already clearly France and Great Britain in economic power.

French, President François Mitterrand , suspicious before a possible return to a hegemonic policy of Germany in Europe, decided to support a new strength to the European Integration Process as a means to "anchor" to Germany in Europe. The German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, did the same to overcome the distrust that we saw in Paris and London to the reunited Germany. The momentum towards further European integration was the only way that Germany began to project its political weight on the international stage without arouse fear and hostility.

The "power vacuum" that originated in central Europe and Eastern with the fall of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, made the EEC was erected as an organization that ensured stability in the midst of a troubled Europe. Indeed, the new democracies emerging from communism's fall precipitated to start the accession negotiations to the community.

A final element that we must take into account is the financial and monetary instability that characterized the period. The stock market "crash" of 1987 which affected major world stock markets and the problems of the European monetary system that ended up broke out in 1992 (the Sterling Pound and the Italian Lira had to leave the EMS, and the Peseta and the Portuguese Escudo were forced to devaluation) were also factors which intervened to urge European political leaders to take a decisive step in the March toward European unity.

In 1989, at the request of Delors is called a Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to treat the final adoption of the Economic and Monetary Union . In 1990, another IGC was

convened to study the establishment of a political Union.

The Treaty of Maastricht (1992)

The Treaty of the European Union, also known as "Maastricht Treaty" for having been signed in the Dutch town, was the final step in the integration process, European, therefore, to modify and supplement the 1951 Treaty of Paris that created the ECSC, the treaties of Rome in 1957 who instituted the EEC and EURATOM, and the single European Act of 1986, for the first time exceeded the economic objective initial of the community, building a common market, and was given a vocation of political unity.

Highlights of the Maastricht Treaty or the Treaty on European Union (TEU):

• The recognition of a European citizenship. • Economic Union and monetary (EMU) where it was agreed the creation of a single currency, the

Euro. • The pursuit of economic and social cohesion of the various regions and EU countries as one of the

objectives of the Union. • It involves a sensitive step forward in Community competencies in areas such as economic and

monetary policy, industrial policy, transport policy, educational policies, the protection of consumers, the research and technological development, cooperation, and the environment.

• The agricultural policy common (Cap). • Addresses the issue of the general and vocational education. • The Parliament increases his powers, the Council of Ministers is renamed Council of the European

Union the Commission is the official name of "Commission of the European communities", the Court of Justice the Court of Auditors and the Economic and Social Committee to strengthen its powers, it creates the Committee of the regions , consultative, and provides for the establishment of the European Central Bank .

• Settled one Foreign policy and common security (CFSP).

The Maastricht Treaty entered into force on 2 November 1993, with not a few problems of ratification by national parliaments.

1993 – 1997

In 1993 culminates the creation of the single market with the 'four freedoms' of movement: goods, services, persons and capital.

On January 1, 1995 occurred the fourth extension of the community with the entrance of Austria, Finland and Sweden. The "Europe of fifteen" was born.

At the beginning of 1996, began an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) whose main purpose was the

development of a new Treaty to reform the Maastricht Treaty. The objectives focused on developing the Europe of citizens, enhance the role of the EU in international politics, reform institutions and address the prospect of a new extension to the applicant countries of central and Eastern Europe. After a long and complex negotiation, is finally reached a consensus at the meeting of the European Council held in Amsterdam the days 16 and 17 June 1997. He was born the Treaty of Amsterdam.

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The Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

The Treaty of Amsterdam was approved by the European Council in Amsterdam on 16 and 17 June 1997 and signed on 2 October 1997 by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the fifteen countries members of the European Union. Entered into force on 1 May 1999 after having been ratified by all States members, according to their own constitutional regulate. The Treaty of Amsterdam aims to modify certain provisions of the Treaty on European Union, the treaties establishing the European Communities (Paris and Rome) and certain acts related to the same. Does not substitute the previous treaties, but that added them.

Be received with much criticism for their shortcomings the Treaty of Amsterdam has been a step forward on the path towards European

unity, these advances we can classify them as follows:

• Freedom, security and justice.

"The Union shall respect fundamental rights as they are guaranteed in the Convention European human rights and fundamental freedoms signed in Rome on 4 November 1950, and as result from the constitutional traditions common to the States members as principles right general community".

• The Union and the citizen

In addition to developing the concept of European citizenship, the Treaty contains various measures dealing to the common citizen at the Centre of the concerns of the Union:

It introduces measures which encourage the Community intervention in the fight against unemployment, the respect for the environment and the protection of consumers.

The right of all citizens is guaranteed to have access to documents of the EU institutions and to communicate with her in any of the twelve official languages of the Union (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, English, Irish or Gaelic, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Greek).

• Common foreign policy

The war in the Balkans showed the urgent need that the Union Halle able to act and prevent not only reacts to the external event. The crisis highlighted, again, the weakness of European States when they react in a dispersed manner before an international crisis. The main innovation that introduces the Treaty is the creation of the CFSP (Minister for Foreign Affairs of the EU). Javier Solana, former Spanish Minister and former Secretary General of NATO, has been the first European to be appointed to this position in 1999.

In the field of defense the Treaty simply raises, as long term objectives, the adoption of a policy of common defense and the future integration of the Western European Union (WEU) in the European Union. The creation of the so-called EuroeArmy in 1992 was a timid step towards a common defense policy.

• The reform of the Community institutions

In the perspective of the still pending reform totally necessary before enlargement of the EU to the countries of central Europe and Eastern institutional, the Treaty of Amsterdam to expanded the powers of the European Parliament , has introduced some reforms in the operation of the Commission and the Council of the EU and strengthened the functions of the Court of Auditors , of the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions .

The Commission presented in Brussels on July 9, 1997 the call " Agenda 2000 “. Prospects of development of the European Union and their expensive policies in the 21st century, problems arising from enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe, and, finally, the financial framework are reflected in this document.

1997 TO THE PRESENT DAY

On 1 January 1999 the Euro rises, culminating the Economic and Monetary Union in 2002.

The enlargement issue will dominate the European policy in the coming years. The countries of the central and Eastern Europe, as well as Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, have very different economic and political situations, which puts the European Union face unprecedented institutional and political challenges.

In the richer EU countries began to fear, with the free movement of persons, following the accession of the countries of the East producing a real avalanche of immigrants.

This fear has led to the fortress of xenophobic extreme right parties as the Party of Haider in Austria.

The accession negotiations with Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic were launched in 1998. We comment on the case of Turkey, for this country joining the EEC is an ancient yearning, that it applied for membership in 1987. Despite the fact that the Union has recognized that it is a country that has the right to accession, the process not advanced because of the inadequacies of this country respect for human rights and the rule of law. In Turkey, where many blame the attitude of the EU to "anti-Islamic" prejudices, have bitterly complained of the lack of progress.

The process of accession of Malta is also more delayed, after deciding in 1996 the Maltese Government to suspend his candidacy. In 1998, he returned to apply for membership.

The process of accession of Cyprus cannot move forward in the same way as the rest until it is not resolved the problem of the partition of the island in two zones (Greek and Turkish) after a Turkish military intervention.

On May 1, 2004 eight Central Europe and Eastern countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland) are incorporated into the European Union, putting an end to the Division of

Europe decided sixty years before by the great powers at Yalta. Cyprus and Malta also

adhere.

On January 1, 2007 two countries of Eastern Europe, Bulgaria and Romania, entering the EU, which now has 27 Member States. Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey are also candidates for membership.

The 13 of December 2007 was signed the Lisbon Treaty that must be ratified by the relevant Governments of the 27entering into force on 1 December 2009. The Treaty gives the EU of modern institutions and perfects its working methods in order to meet effectively the challenges of today's world. On a planet that changes quickly, Europeans again his gaze the EU to resolve problems such as

globalization, climate change, demographic trends, security and energy. The Treaty of Lisbon reinforces democracy in the EU and improves their ability to defend the interests of its citizens every day.

The pending EU challenge is the development of a "European Constitution", which although it was adopted by the heads of State and Government at the Brussels European Council of 17 and 18 June 2004 and signed in Rome on 29 October was never ratified.

Institutions and bodies of the EU

European Parliament

Directly elected every five years by voters in the EU, members of the European Parliament representing the citizens. Parliament is one of the main legislative institutions of the EU together with the Council of the European Union ("Council").

European Council

The meetings of the European Council are essentially summits in which EU leaders meet to decide on political priorities General and far-reaching initiatives. Usually have four meetings a year, chaired by a permanent President.

The European Council brings together the heads of State or of Government of each country of the EU, to the President of the Commission and to the President of the European Council, which is who presides over the meetings. It also involved the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and security policy.

Council of the European Union

Also known informally as the EU Council, it is the forum where Ministers of the EU countries met to adopt legislation and coordinate policies.

Should not be confused with the European Council: it is another EU institution where their leaders meet about four times a year to discuss the political priorities of the EU.

The functions of the Council of the European Union are: 1. Approves the EU legislation. 2. It coordinates the various economic policies of the countries

of the EU. 3. Signing agreements between the EU and other countries. 4. Approves the annual budget of the EU. 5. Develops the foreign policies and defense of the EU.

6. It coordinates the cooperation between the courts and the police forces of the Member States.

European Commission

The European Commission is one of the main institutions of the European Union. It represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It drafts proposals for new European laws. It manages the day-to-day business of implementing EU policies and spending EU funds.

The 27 Commissioners, one from each EU country, provide the Commission’s political leadership during their 5-year term. Each Commissioner is assigned responsibility for specific policy areas by the President.

The Commission represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It oversees and implements EU policies by:

1. Proposing new laws to Parliament and the Council

2. Managing the EU's budget and allocating funding

3. Enforcing EU law (together with the Court of Justice)

4. Representing the EU internationally, for example, by negotiating agreements between the EU and other

countries.

The Court of Justice of the European Union

The Court of Justice interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries. It also settles legal disputes between EU governments and EU institutions. Individuals, companies or organisations can also bring cases before the Court if they feel their rights have been infringed by an EU institution.

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) based in Frankfurt, Germany, manages the euro – the EU's single currency – and safeguards price stability in the EU. The ECB is also responsible for framing and implementing the EU’s economic and monetary policy.

Purpose:

Keep prices stable (keep inflation under control), especially in countries that use the euro.

Keep the financial system stable– by making sure financial markets and institutions are properly supervised.

The Bank works with the central banks in all 27 EU countries. Together they form the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

EU Court of Auditors

The European Court of Auditors audits EU finances. Its role is to improve EU financial management and report on the use of public funds. It was set up in 1975 and is based in Luxembourg.

European Economic and Social Committee

This Committee represents civil society, employers and employees. It was founded in 1957 as a forum to discuss issues regarding the single market, under the terms of the Treaty of Rome. It is an advisory body representing employers, trade unions, farmers, consumers and other groups of interest that collectively constitute the "organized civil society".

Committee of the Regions

Represents regional and local authorities. It was created in 1994 under the EU Treaty. The Committee of the Regions is an advisory body composed of representatives of Europe's regional and local authorities. The Committee must be consulted before the decisions of the EU on matters affecting the local and regional government such as regional policy, the environment, education and

transport.

European Ombudsman

The Ombudsman responds to complaints from EU citizens, businesses and organisations, helping to uncover cases of 'maladministration' – where EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies have broken the law, failed to respect the principles of sound administration or violated human rights. Examples include:

unfairness discrimination abuse of power lack of or refusal to provide information unnecessary delay incorrect procedures.

THE FATHERS OF EUROPE

The principal architects of the European integration after the Second World War:

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967)

Sir Winston Churchil (1874-1965)

Jean Monnet (1888-1979)

Alcide de Gasperi (1881-1954)

Walter Hallstein (1901-1982)

Paul Henri Spaak(1899-1972) Altiero Spinelli(1907-1986)

Robert Schuman(1886-1963)

THE EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP

We can define citizenship as a legal and political status by which citizens acquire certain rights as an individual and some duties as part of a political collectivity, as well as the ability to intervening in the collective life of a State. This right arises from the democratic principle of popular sovereignty.

The citizens of Spain, United Kingdom, France, United States... have a series of rights recognised by their constitutions, but they also have obligations with regard to their national community (fiscal, military...). In a democratic state, the citizen must fulfil those obligations since they were approved by the representatives they have chosen, using one of their main political rights as a citizen, that of suffrage.

Citizenship is restricted to people who have that condition. Persons who live in a territory but lack the status of citizens are excluded from the rights and the duties that the condition of citizen involves. Every State has laws that regulate the way an individual can acquire its nationality, that is to say, the citizenship.

This concept of citizenship goes back to the historical period initiated with the great liberal revolutions of the end of the 18th century, and is characterized by the pre-eminence of the State-nation as the political community that comprises the individuals. Citizenship is equivalent to nationality.

The Spanish delegation was the first to present to the IGC, in October 1990, a text on European citizenship. After diverse negotiations, with the clear and explicit support of the European Parliament that approved two resolutions in 1991, in its favour. Finally the Treaty of the European Union came to institutionalize the European citizenship.

The Treaty of the European Union (Treaty of Maastricht) established the European Citizenship. The main objective of the institutionalization of this new legal status was, according to the Community Institutions, to strengthen and improve the European identity and enable European citizens to participate, in a more intense way, in the process of Community integration.

The condition of European citizenship was restricted to every person that had the nationality of a member State. The European citizenship does not substitute, but rather suplements, the citizenship of each State. In consequence, the laws of each member States, quite different in many cases, were to regulate the way to get access to citizenship of the Union.

Article 17 1. Citizenship of the Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall complement and not replace national citizenship. In order the European citizenship is fully developed and have a real meaning for all the Europeans, it is necessary that a sort of european identity arise, with some increasingly clear-cut profiles, to really get consciousness of a European identity.

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EUROPEAN IDENTITY

The word identity comes from the Latin identitas, identitatis that means quality of the identical and which in turn derives from ditto demonstrative pronoun. The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy defines the term identity as: identity. (From lat. Identitas, - atis) 1. Quality of the identical. 2 Set of characteristics of an individual or a collective that characterized in front of others. 3. Awareness that a person has of beeing different from others. 4. The fact of being someone or something the same as it is assumed or sought. 5 Mat. Algebraic equality is always valid, whatever the value of its variables. The President of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, in an article on whether there is a European identity, was questioning himself if there was any sense in asking this question at this time and not having done it before: "When I ask myself to what extent I feel European and what links me to Europe”, I am surprised at the fact that only now I have to think this issue over." Why did I not think of it long ago, in those days that I was beginning to discover the world? Was it because I regarded my belonging to Europe as a superficial matter of little significance? "Or was it that I took my linkage to Europe for granted?". The European Council reafirmed in their releases that “European citizenship does not replace in any way national citizenship” and that EU “respects the national identity of its members”. It is evident that while Europe has been defined for centuries as a territorial space, any person been born in it could share the same European status. However, this simple assignment of a territorial nature is not enough to sustain the existence of a European identity. Simple membership does not entail a feeling of reference. In order that European identity becomes significant its necessary that each of the Union's citizens could feel, to some extent, that this will vary depending on the time, the context and the circumstances, European or, for example, Spanish or Galician. To get this a sense of identification with the European project should be widespread among citizens.

I would welcome it, for instance, if the European Union were to establish a charter of its own that would clearly define the ideas on which it is founded, its meaning and the values it intends to embody. Clearly, the basis of such a charter could be nothing other than a definitive moral code for European citizens. All those hundreds of pages of agreements on which the European Union is founded would thus be brought under the umbrella of a single, crystal-clear and universally understandable political document that would make it obvious at once what the European Union really is. At the same time, it also would be to its advantage if it were made even more obvious who represents it and embodies and guarantees its values. If the citizens of Europe understand that this is not just an anonymous bureaucratic monster to limit or even deny their autonomy, but simply a new type of human community that actually broadens their freedom significantly, then the European Union need not fear for its future. (Václav Havel. European Parliament. March 1994).

The European Union already covers 27 States with which the geographic reality and political integration are very close and secondly, the level of involvement and interrelationship

between the States reaches more and more dimensions. At present the integration involves not only the existence of a single currency, a single market and a European Central Bank but also the convergence in environmental and social issues.

All this has meant a greater presence of the European Union in our lives as citizens, especially with the introduction of the euro which undoubtedly marked the change of a national symbol as the peseta was, by another supranational one that has made us

more aware of our belonging to the European Community. However, this does not create a sense of identity. Even today, including the euro-optimist States like ours,

people have a certain feeling of strangeness, as referred by Havel, when he was asked whether they considered themselves Europeans. The data of opinion polls carried out by the

European Commission are especially revealing and lead to the so-called Eurobarómetros. One

issue that is always present in such surveys is the extent to which European Union citizens are defined as only European, European and national, national and European or national only.

Although the results differ from one country to another, according to the polls carried out in 2001, in Spain, the third country with a greater sense of membership of the European Union, a 3 % of those surveyed described themselves as European only, a 4 % felt more European than Spanish, a 52 % more Spanish than European and a 38 % felt only Spanish. The difference is graphic enough to spare any comments about that. The same results have been achieved in other studies in which it has become obvious that even when people respond positively to the question of whether they feel European, it is still far more relevant their national or regional identity. The great challenge the European Union has to face nowadays is to get closer to its citizens. As Havel stated in his speech to the European Parliament on 8 March 1994: “If this great administrative work, which should obviously simplify life for all Europeans, is to hold together and stand the tests of time, then it must be visibly bonded by something more than a set of rules and regulations”. This "something more" as described by the Czech President is without any doubt, a sense of identity rooted in all European citizens that legitimizes and ensure continuity and viability of integration. On December 7th, 2000, the "Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union" was signed in Nice. ......Conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible and universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity and is based on the principles of democracy and of the Rule of Law. By establishing the Union citizenship and creating an area of freedom, security and justice, the person is situated at the Centre of its action. The Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe, as well as the national identities of the Member States and the organization of their public authorities at national, regional and local levels; It seeks to promote a balanced and sustainable development and ensures free movement of people, goods, services and capital, as well as the freedom of establishment. To this end, it is necessary, to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights in the light of changes in society, social progress and scientific and technological developments..........

In a convention on the future of Europe, December 2002, the French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaigne, declared to the press: “For Europe has definitely arrived the moment to think about the future identity of the Union. At present it is perceived the need of a sense of strong identity inside the Union, expression of solidarity and of a common destination. Obviously, this feeling can not be conceived as a monolithic group and without nuances when

the same Union keeps joined together thanks to its own diversities, with an identity based in the complexity of its history and in the pluralism that

characterizes it.” When analysing the national identity, regional identities or the ethnic identities, we can see that there is a group of shared elements that are basically limited to the common use of a language and the feeling and perception of the history, shared culture and traditions. If we try to make a transposition to Europe we find more than 27 languages, excluding dialects, a history of wars and confrontations and a great diversity of traditions. Surely this makes the EU a space of unique cultural richness but that is not conducive to the setting of a common ground on which to base the European identity. The European identity is configured in this sense as a crisol of cultures,

languages and traditions that coexist peacefully and protect each other, it is a unity in diversity.---

The EU is facing today some challenges that go further of the merely economic. Focusing the integration process in the political and economic field, has led the European project to a dangerous situation for having forgotten the social aspect, in short, the feeling of the men and women who form the EU and that in these times of economic crisis it is growing significantly, as it is evidenced by the on going political confrontations within the Union, mainly due to the stress created by the interventions carried out on Ireland, Portugal and Greece and the financial difficulties that are going through Italy and Spain. In Greece and Italy has come even to placed a technocrat president not elected by the people as it is required in any country applying for EU membership. Talking about European identity means to refer to a complex reality with economic, legal, political, cultural and social dimensions that up to now the European leaders have not gone deeply into many of them, except in the economic and therefore the lack of interest of most of citizens by the European institutions and the decisions taken there. Today it can be argued that after having succeeded in creating the EU, the challenge is to create the Europeans, to think and feel as such, only to the extent as to achieve that almost all the citizenry is aware of their status as european and feel identified with the condition it can be said that Europe is a collective and personal identity. The feeling of belonging to the same community, of sharing the same destiny, it cannot be created artificially, but has to arise from a common cultural conciousness. For this reason, Europe should focus on education, citizenship and culture, and not just in the economy. With the Schengen Agreement border controls between the majority of Member States have been abolished, thereby reinforcing the feeling of the people of belonging to a unique space geographically unified. Among the material elements that form and support the European identity, we can find the flag, the anthem, the very city of Brussels as capital of the EU, the Euro, the passports, the driving licence, the prizes, the domain.eu, etc., that have been contributing to the creation of a European identity.

European Flag The twelve stars in a circle symbolize the ideals of unity, solidarity and harmony among the peoples of Europe. All European Institutions have been using it since 1986. The European flag is the symbol, not only of the European Union but also of Europe's unity and identity in a broader sense. There are twelve stars because number twelve is traditionally the symbol of perfection, completeness and unity.

European Anthem

The melody used to symbolize the EU comes from the Ninth Symphony composed in 1823 by Ludwig Van Beethoven. In 1985 it was adopted by EU leaders as the official anthem of the European Union. It has no words when used as the European Anthem. In the universal language of music, it is an expression of the European ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity.The European anthem is not intended to replace the national anthems of the EU countries but rather to celebrate the values they all share.

Europe Day

The ideas behind the European Union were put forward on 9 May 1950 by the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman. This is the reason why 9 May is celebrated as Europe’s Day.

The Euro

It is the official currency in 17 of the 27 European countries, known as the Eurozone. The Euro is used every day by more than 330 million Europeans. The name euro was officially adopted on December 16, 1995. Euro banknotes and coins entered circulation on 1 January

2002.

"United in diversity" is the motto of the European Union.

It signifies how Europeans have come together, in the form of the EU, to work for peace and prosperity, while at the same time being enriched by the continent's many different cultures, traditions and languages. It was first used in 2000.

THE SPANISH IDENTITY IN EUROPE It is generally accepted that Spain comes from the latin Hispania and that this name prevailed among the Romans after a hesitanting period between the “Hispania” of, presumably Phoenician roots, and the “Iberia” of the Greeks. The word Spain is Christian, but Muslims used a new term referring to the whole of the Peninsula, “Al Andalus”, and Jews did the same, “Sefarad”. It has always been said that Al Andalus and Sefarad are synonymous of Spain. Situated in the crossing of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, the history of Spain and its culture comprise a rich mixture of different elements set up by the different colonizations and invasions that we had over the centuries and that have influenced in a significant way the formation of our identity.

Phoenicians, Greeks, Celts, Carthaginians, Romans, Jews, Visigoths, Muslims and Christians have occupied alternatively, or even overlapping different geographic areas different periods of our history, from Ancient Times to the Reconquest in the Middle Ages. The first Spanish State can be attributed to the Visigoths who established the capital of the kingdom in Toledo at the beginning of the 6th century and lasted until the Muslim invasion in 711.

Christianity, official religion passed by the Visigoths, had a great importance in the formation of Spanish identity as the Church has always had great influence in our formation as a Nation-State. The Way of Santiago since the Middle Ages has been a constant flow of pilgrims. By the Way, European cultural elements, among which Roman and Gothic art were introduced in Spain. It had its peak in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. Since the Catholic Monarchs, Spain was one unit. Other countries refer to: the Spanish Policy, the Spanish Army or the Spanish Monarchy, and

this ends with consequences due to what is being internally forged in Spain. The discovery of America in 1492 and the later discovery of the New World opened the doors for the expansion of Europe and its colonization around the world. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain became the first world power in direct competition with Portugal first and later, with France, England and the Ottoman Empire. Castilla, together with Portugal was at the forefront of European exploration and the opening of trade routes across the oceans (The Atlantic between Spain and the Indies, and the Pacific between East Asia and Mexico, via the Philippines). Spain, especially the Kingdom of Castilla, expanded, by colonizing these territories and thus building the largest economic empire in the world at the time. With the incorporation of the Portuguese Empire in 1580 (lost in 1640) and even with the loss of the American possessions in the 19th century, was one of the largest Empires in world wide posessions, , in spite of military defeats and bankruptcies undergone during the second half of the 17th century. The marriage policy of the Monarchs enabled the Union with the Crown of Aragon first, and temporarily with Bourgogne, and Austria later. Many territories in Europe were acquired by means of this policy, where Spain became one of the major powers. The period between the second half of the 16th century and the first of the 17th is known as the Golden Century by the flourishing of arts and Sciences that occurred.

During the reign of FelipeII it was ussually said that "The Sun did not set in the Empire", as it was spread all over the world there was always some area with sun light. This empire, was unmanageable, Madrid was the

seat of the Court of Felipe II, and Seville was the main point where from the overseas possessions were organized. This vast and scattered empire was in constant dispute with rival powers because of territorial, commercial or religious beliefs. The constant fights with emerging powers of Europe, often simultaneously, for long periods and based on both political and religious differences, with the gradual loss of territories, hardly defensible because of their dispersion, contributed to the slow decline of the Spanish power. This decline culminated,with regard to the dominion over European territories, with the Peace of Utrecht (1713), signed by a monarch who came from one of the rival

powers: Felipe V. Spain renounced to its territories in Italy and The Netherlands, losing hegemony over Europe, renounced also to continue to dominate in European politics. However, Spain maintained and indeed expanded its far-flung Empire of overseas, harassed by the British, French and Dutch, expansionism, remaining as the most important economic power, until successive revolutions took away its territories in the American continent at the beginning of the 19th century. A Dynastic change is produced in the XVIII century by the arrival of the Bourborns, who adopt several centralizing measures in order to create a more effective stake. They abolish the privileges and institutions of the kingdoms of Aragon, creating new models of territorial administration. The new dynasty intensified prerogative and royalty politics by seeking the supremacy of the crown and the civil power over the church. They tried to find the monetary union, too, having established the Royal of the two = two reales.

The Independence war against Napoleon’s troops marked the feeling of patriotism towards the nation-state as well as in the creation of the Spanish nation in the modern sense of the word. It appears the first Spanish Constitution of Cádiz in 1812. The Nationalo Sovereighnty is shown in “Article 3” taking into account that the Sovereighnty mainer lies in the nation and belongs exclusively to this. By Decree of May 4th 1814, Ferdinand VII repealed the Constitution of

1812 as well as all the given regulations of its development. From that date the ones of the absolutist old regine began to be settled down.

Later and until the constitution took effect in 1978 the Spanish Nation had the Constitutions of 1837, 1845, 1869, 1876 and 1931. The Spanish Civil war was a social political and military conflict (which will later affect economic and social conflicts) produced in Spain after the coup d’etat had fallen through on 17th and 18th July 1936, and carried out by a part of the army against the government of the second Spanish Republic, and it would be finished on April 1st, 1939 with the last war report signed by Francisco Franco declaring his victory and stablishing a dictatorship which would last until 1975. The war was a true moral breakage of the country and conseguently several generations suffered the causes and repression of those long postwar years.

The attitude of the European democracies in the Spanish War is part of the search of a policy of reconciliation with Hiltler. The United Kingdom and France had chosen long ago to avoid any confrontation which could accomplish a general War.

After Franco’s death, Juan Carlos I was proclaimed king in a political context of great uncertainty. It began a complex proccess of transition from the dictatorship to a democratic system. This process of transition has become over the years a model for many countries by the low level of violence that accompanied it. On December 6th, 1978 the Constitution was approved with a 87,87% of affirmative votes.

In May 1982, Spain joined in the North Atlantic Organization.

Spain managed to acced to the European Economic community on January 1st, 1986. The old dream of integration in Europe became a reality

FUTURO DE LA IDENTIDAD EUROPEA

The European Union was created to serve the countries of Europe and its future must finish with the active participation of people from all social classes. The EU founding parents were very aware of this “We don’t ally states we join people”, Jean Monnet used to say in 1952. One of the great challenges of the European institutions is to inform citizens about what

the UE represents and involve them in their activities.

How to develop all the potential of 500 million Europeans who share the same values and interests?. The European Union will soon have more than thirty member states with history, languages, and different cultures. Can a family of nations being so different set up a “public sphere common policy?. Can their citizens a common feeling of “Being Europeans” without being so attached to their country, their region and their local community?.Perhaps they can if the current Member States follow the example of the first European Community “the CECA”, which was born with the rubble of the second World War. Its moral legitimacy was based on the reconciliation and peace between the former enemies. Endorsed the principle that all member States, being large or small have equal rights and respect for minorities.

The EU must be more democratic. The European Parliament which has more power with each new treaty, is directly elected by universal suffrage every five years. But the percentage of the population that actually vote in these elections varies according to the countries, and the participation is usually very low. The challenge for the EU institutions and national Governments is to find better ways to inform and to communicate with the public education, no governmental organization and therefore to contribute to the emergency of a public sphere common European where the citizens of the EU can give shape to the political agenda. There is a lack of interest and a resentment of the “European citizen” because the elites that are in relation with the functioning of the EU, do not take their views into account. Another serious problem facing the EU in their struggle for a European identity is the phenomenon of the immigration of citizens which, due to the free movement, they seek better opportunities in the most developed countries. The crisis and economic stagnation is the reason why this happens and, so in many cases this increases the number of unemployed people. It is estimated there are about twenty million people from the third countries within the EU, although it is necessary the immigration within the EU due to population ageing that according to a Eurostat report in 2050 the own population in age of working will have dropped by 52 million people. This large-scale migratory movements in Europe and in the third countries has contributed to the emergency of new identities which, as a result, have given rise to the resurgence of ethnic nationamism and the increase of racism and xenophobia phenomema in Europe. These dangerous movements if we remembered have been the main reasons for the worst wars in the history and the EU should streg then the cultural policy in order to form a true European identity and a sense of belonging that forms a real citizenships and forced them to take part in the decisions at a level of the EU by adopting measures to facilitate the integration of these millions of people with their tongues. Customs and different cultures which is what forms the European Identity. When applying the priciple of multiple identities to the European one, it’s possible to understand that being European is not based on a homogenization of cultures, but a recognition of difference and diversity. With the recognition of different identities of the malleability of the same of its constant change we will create an inclusive and not exclusive identity, based on the principles of respect for humman rights, supremacy of law, and protection of minority groups advocated by the European Union.This is not a simple process, but it is the unique possible to have a viable Europe in the future.

IDENTITY UNITED SENIOR 2011 – 2012

LUBLIN It is a city from Polonia located in the high lands of Bytrica river in the historic region of Malopolsha. It is one of the largest cities in Poland, both in population with 368,961 being the 9th most populous city of the country with 147 Km2. In 2007 it

was declared a monument of history. Among its many monuments we can mention the cathedral of the sixteenth century. Lublin is the largest academic centre on the right side of the Vístula river and one of the largest in

Poland. It has two major universities: The Catholic University (the only of its kind in Poland) and Maria Curie Skodowska University. Lublín will be in 2016 the capital of Culture European.. Twinned with:

Alcalá de Henares, Debrecen, Delmenhorst, Erie, Lancaster, Münster, Nancy, Nykøbing Falster, Pernik, Panevėžys, Rishon LeZion, Luhans'k, Lutsk, Lvov, Starobielsk, Viseu,

Windsor

CHEMNITZ It’s a city in the German State of Saxony on the river Chemnitz (hence the name), to 69 Km. South East of Leipzig. Chemnitz is over 800 years old and it is the third largest city in the new federal states, about 254,000 people are living here. It was bombarded by the allies at the end of the Second Worl War. On May 10, 1953 the regime of the Germany Democratic Republic changed its name by the Karl Marx City (Karl-Marx-Stadt in German). On June 1st, 1990 it regained its original name.

In the Technical University there are about 10,000 young people studying. Through several programmes we can find students from Chemnitz in all the world. This internationalization of the study has the support of agreements with more than 100 universities in all continents. Chemnitz is the city of culture. Highly valued nationallly and internationally you can see its local theatres with the opera and the house of performances, its remarkable staging and Robert Schumann Phillarmonic Orchestra as well as threatrical figures. It’s famous too, the great bronze of Karl Marx of 7,10 metres high created by Lew Kerbel, which is designated in the local dialect as “Nischel”.

In 2006 the new town centre was awarded with the DIFA-Award thanks to shops, offices, restaurants, housing, leisure and culture.

SCANDIANO In reggiano Scadian dialect is a Italian municipality with 22,843 inhabitants. It is located in the province of Reggio Emilia Modena adjacent to the Emilia Romagna. It is geographical position had given a central role in the Middle Ages with a historial and economic reality. In the XV century the territory became part of the duchy of Ferrara and is governed by

members of the illustrious family Boiardo, remaining at

present the fortress of Boiardo, artistic monument of historical interest. The Scandiano city has joined the international movement Cittaslow, recognizing and sharing the need that the development of local communities is based on the ability to find their own identity. The territory of Scandiano is famous for its typical products such as parmesan cheese, delicious hand made sausages with refined balsamic vinegar and of medieval origin.

Twinned with:

• Blansko, Czech Republic (from 1964). • Tubize, Belgium (from 1975). • Almansa, Spain (from 1989).

El territorio de Scandiano es

famosa por sus productos típicos, como el queso parmesano, la mano deliciosas salchichas hechas y vinagre balsámico refinado de origen medieval.

LIBEREC

Liberec is a city of the Czech Republic capital of the region of its name. It is the sixth largest city in the Czech Republic with 97,400 inhabitants, it is the fifth city of the Czech Republic. Liberec fue mencionada por primera vez en un documento de 1348, y desde 1622 hasta 1634 fue una de las posesiones de Albrecht von Wallenstein. Liberec was first mentioned in a document of 1348 and from 1622 to 1634 was one of the possessions of Alrecht von Wallenstein. The textile industry was introduced in 1579. The thriving local industry was interrupted by the Thirty Year War and a great plague in 1680.

The city developed rapidly in the late 19th century and it has a spetacular collection

of buildings from the late 19th century among them, the town hall, opera and Severoceské Muzeum (Museum of Bohemia of the North) are the most important.

The Technical University of Liberec is a public university. Its roots are in the “School of Mechanical

Engineering” founded in 1953. The university was promoted to university and got its actual name in 1995. There are currently over 8,000 students enrolled in six faculties and one institute. Liberec is know as the “city under Jested” whose peak reaches 1012 m. It is crowned by a modern tower that has become a dominant feature of the city. The building, a communications town and a hotel with a restaurant opened in 1970 has become a symbol of the city.

GANTE It’s a city of Belgium the capital of the Province of East Flanders in the Flemish Region. It’s located at the confluence of the Lys (Lys in Flemish) in the Scheled. Etymologically, the name Ghent comes from the Celtic word “ganda” which refers to the convergence, for example of the two rivers between which you can see the city. Nowadays, it is the Flemish city with the largest number of historics buildings, an intense cultural life and privileged location, between Bruges and Brussels at half an hour by train. On January, 1st Ghent had 243,366 inhabitants. The total area is 157,69 Km2. Belgium is the fourth municipality in the number of inhabitants. This province was occupied by the Celts. And in the fourteenth century was, after Paris the largest medieval city in Europe in the north of the Alps. In thehistory it was a city of disturbances against high taxes and battles for the civil rights. The city was the residence of the Counts of Flanders, so the Emperor Charles V (Carlos I of Spain) was born in there. Today no trace remains of the castle where the Emperor was born, but the Gravensteen or Castle of the Counts, built in the century XII and rebuilt in the late XIX and early XX centuries is still left. This is an impressive fortress in the heart of the city, surrounded by a moat. It’s a very important city in the economic sense because along the canal Ghent to Terneuzen ships can reach from the sea to the port. It’s an industrial and tourist centre of East Flanders. Twinned with:

Kanazawa, Nottingham, Saint-Raphaël, Tallin Wiesbaden

CONCLUSION

Europe will continue being a sum of identities, where they will still be perfectly disinguishable from each

other or the time will rub out the differences to become what we might call a European identity.

EUROPE HAS A LOT TO DO