Toothless European Citizenship / Šimon Uradnik

Union citizens feel attached to the European Union, from which 43% feel only fairly attached; on the contrary, in the cases of attachment to a city/town/village or to a country, the percentages amount to 89% and 91%, respectively. For comparison, the attachment for a non-defined Europe is slightly higher, reaching 66%; nonetheless, qualitative research would be supposably more appropriate here for more profound insight as a different person might have different connotations behind the attachment to Europe. However, for the purposes of this monograph, it is sufficient to state that the individual attachment to the European Union cannot be compared to the attachment to a city/town/village or to a country at all. Ad the specific kind of love for an entity, for the European Union in this case. This section must be perceived more as a background for the section hereinabove of belonging and attachment to a society of an entity since this part of the emotional complement is not assessed empirically, as is not in the capacity of this monograph, but rather through the symbols. The common symbols of and for the European Union were presented in the Constitution for Europe by virtue of Article I-8, id est the flag, 118 the anthem, 119 the motto, 120 the currency of the Union, 121 and Europe Day. 122 These symbols have been, because of the failure of referenda, eventually dropped from the wording of the Treaty of Lisbon. Failures of the ratifications of the Constitution for Europe have been oftentimes related to the absence of the European identity; 123 moreover, that can also be interpreted as a nonacceptance of the symbols of the Union as their own for being ‘too much federalising’. 124 In spite of that, the European Union 125 and the majority of the Member States, in fact, utilise them, although the single currency is adopted only in twenty Member States, and Europe Day is far less important for Union citizens than their national and public 118 A circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background. 119 Based on Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven. 120 ‘United in diversity’. 121 The euro. 122 Celebrated on the 9 th of May throughout the Union. 123 Max Haller and Regina Ressler, ‘National and European identity: A study of their meanings and interrelationships’ (2006) 47/4 Revue française de sociologie 821. 124 Translation of the author. For that purpose, see Magdaléna Svobodová, Občanství Evropské Unie (Auditorium 2021) 93. 125 Legally speaking, the European Parliament’s usage of the symbols of the Union has been enacted by the rules of procedure; to that effect, see European Parliament, ‘Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament’ rule 238.

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