Dieter Fuchs

Dieter Fuchs summarizes for EUDO Café the core argument of his recent book: Dieter Fuchs, Hans-Dieter Klingemann,  Cultural Diversity, European Identity and the Legitimacy of the EU, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011

The debate about the state and the development of the EU has been characterized by several assumptions. First, further integration of the EU is closely connected to the legitimacy of the EU in the eyes of its citizens. Second, this legitimacy has decreased more or less continuously in the last two decades, with a consequent rise in euro-scepticism. Third, the erosion of legitimacy and the increase in euro-scepticism have been influenced by two factors, on the one hand, by the EU’s democratic deficit, which, since Maastricht, has become striking even to ordinary citizens and, on the other, by the lack of a European identity. The cultural diversity between European countries, which have different cultural traditions and historical experiences are, said to be, barely bridgeable obstacles for the development of a European identity. This problem has become more critical after several rounds of EU expansion towards central and Eastern Europe.
This sceptical portrait, which is quite consistently given in discussions about the EU, is not confirmed by empirical analyses. The majority of citizens in almost all member countries of the EU still consider membership of their country as positive and the (theoretically) absolutely stable democratic deficit of the EU is not very important to citizens. To support the EU, benefits are more relevant: for example, economic and political stability. Moreover, it is empirically determined that European identity already exists and that the relationship between this European identity and national identities is complementary and that they do not necessarily oppose one another. Widespread euro-scepticism, as well, is not recognizable in the empirical findings.
Nevertheless, there is the question of how resilient this empirically-determined support for the EU and the European identity is, if a conflict with national state interests and national identity occurred, which, for instance, is the case in the current financial crisis. It can be shown that in some countries populist parties of the extreme right are able to mobilize anti-European resentments. In contrast, the potential of European civil society to contribute to the construction of a European identity seems to be quite small at present. Hence, the question of the election success of populist parties of the extreme right and the maintenance of existing pro-European attitudes among parties in the middle spectrum in almost all member states is of crucial significance regarding the further development of citizens’ attitude towards the EU.