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Identity is a sense of belonging that helps people understand and categorize the world around them. Through their identity, people define their connection to the outside world. The process of creating an identity is much more complex in modern European society. Identity has always been a reaction to certain types of pressure from the environment. It is important to understand that the idea of Europe is currently going through a process of transition. As part of this transition, the conflict between national and post-national identities can be highlighted. The transition to European politics and society caused by the process of European integration poses a challenge to the traditional basis of national identity. In fact, the very value of national identity is being questioned. This challenge stems from the growing awareness that the ideal of a cohesive people, on which identity is based, has never existed. Increasingly, however, debates are focusing on the growing pluralism, diversity and multiculturalism of the idea of Europe. One of the conclusions of these discourses is that instead of focusing on unity and equality, the only sustainable form of European identity is one that recognizes and respects diversity and difference. Recognition of European identity is just a layer / concentric circle in a much more complex whole that can lead to the development of a sense of Europeanism and that enables inclusion and participation. European identity as a new form of political identity is nothing but a set of national identities of the member states of the European Union, which allows each member state, despite the acceptance of the European identity with the membership in the Union, to further preserve and nurture the elements of its national identity, elements that make each nation its own and special but also different from others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of Europeanisation initiated in Turkey following the 1999 Helsinki summit witnessed a loosening of state control over the Patriarchate of Constantinople under the government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In parallel with the AKP's reforms geared towards EU membership, the Patriarchate's activities became more transnational in their character, especially with regards to its organisation and influence over religious affairs within the Christian world. This contribution traces change and continuity in Turkish policy towards the Patriarchate under the AKP government. Key differences between the AKP government's stance on the Patriarchate and those of its predecessors are noted, with specific reference to prospects of EU membership and the strategy that has been devised by the AKP to that end. Specifically, the contribution shows that Turkey's bid to join the EU initially presented important leverage over Turkey, allowing the Patriarchate to reassert its transnational character. However, diminished prospects of EU membership together with a gradual return of nationalist sentiment now present an important challenge for the Patriarchate in its efforts to maintain transnational character and influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the socially divisive consequences of the UK's 2016 referendum on membership in the European Union. Rather than redressing the country's long-standing class divisions, the referendum has exacerbated them by fuelling negative stereotypes and mutual accusations between Leave and Remain supporters. Drawing on psychoanalytic theories of subjectivity, the article argues that support for Leave and Remain is structured by circulations of affect, fantasies of the good life and psychic investments in different experiences of immigration, nationalism, and social and economic inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the current problems of the integration in the EU in the context of the ongoing restructuring of the global economy and its institutional order under the pressure of rising economic nationalism and protectionism. The differentiated integration conducted in EMU outlines the challenges for Bulgaria from the integration at "two speeds" in the EU. The problems of overcoming the crisis of the current EU integration model are being considered in the context of the ongoing reforms. By revealing the main trends in the world economy the paper discusses the impact of global changes on the European integration. The difficulties in reforming the completion of the Economic and Monetary Union are evaluated as a bottleneck to the further enlargement of the EMU. The opportunities and perspectives of Bulgaria's inclusion in the EMU are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to explain the varied policy responses to the large wave of emigration from Central and Eastern European states during the last two decades, focusing on the cases of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Differing degrees of emigrant engagement by these states are explained by the role of internal minorities as active members of the emigrant population and the overall political and demographic relevance of historical kin. This study contributes to our understanding of what shapes state policies towards different types of external populations. It also highlights the particular challenges of state-led transnational engagement in a supranational border regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of European integration has traditionally focused on organisational growth: the deepening and widening of the European Union (EU). By contrast, this article analyses organisational differentiation, a process in which states refuse, or are being refused, full integration but find value in establishing in-between grades of membership. It describes how the EU's system of graded membership has developed, and it explains the positioning of states in this system. The core countries of the EU set a standard of 'good governance'. The closer European countries are to this standard, the closer their membership grade is to the core. Some countries fall short of this standard and are refused further integration by the core: their membership grade increases with better governance. Other countries refuse further integration because they outperform the standards of the core countries: their membership grade decreases as governance improves. These conjectures are corroborated in a panel analysis of European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An influential contingent of Catholic clergy in Poland reacted to Poland’s entry into the European Union by developing a narrative positing the Catholic foundation and ownership of Europe and all its constituent “nations.” This narrative, which I call national-European theology, identifies the Catholic Church as the progenitor of both European and Polish existence and guarantor of their continuity of identity. In this way, it remedies some Catholics’ anxieties about both the integrity of Poland’s national sovereignty and the allegedly secularizing and liberalizing cultural influence of other EU member countries. I argue that national-European theology can be fruitfully conceived as a hereditary ownership narrative, framed by moments of spiritual foundation and subsequent inheritance from spiritual founders, and that this narrative structure characterizes both nationalism writ large and Europeanization as an analogous modern identitarian project. I suggest that taking heredity as a lens through which to understand nationalism and its attendant notions of legitimation allows us to move past debates about the “content” of nationalist claims (ethnic, religious, linguistic, etc.) and toward the mechanism by which group reproduction is culturally defined and sanctioned. To do this, I first sketch a theory of nationalism as a hereditary ownership narrative, drawing upon the Polish case, and liken it to the “Europe-building” project of the EU. Second, I present a brief historical outline of Poland’s accession to the EU and the anxieties generated thereby. Finally, I turn to the rhetoric of the Polish clergy who best represent the national-European current in contemporary Catholic political theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the crisis being faced by the European Union (EU) and discusses whether it is realistic to return to nation states with closed borders and whether the Europeans want such an outcome. Topics discussed include the Great Britain referendum on continued EU membership, the findings of a study which suggest people are supportive of the idea of a united Europe, and previous forecasts done on the spread of European identity.