A Common Identity Could Derive from the Protection of Civil Rights

The fundamental rights adjudication can be the catalyst for the European integration process. "The pessimism about integration stems from the belief that it is not possible to create a state form because of the diversity of member states", says Graziella Romeo who addressed the issue in an article entitled Building Integration Through the Bill of Rights? The EU at the Mirror.

"This theory assumes that elsewhere the process has been fluid and natural. But even the United States, a successful federal experience, has had a troubled history in synthesizing the cultures of states that were committed to preserve their own identity and culture". In the U.S., the fundamental rights adjudication, in a process that goes from the center (the federation) to the edge (the states), played a decisive role in building national identity. Something similar can happen in Europe.

"Political reasons cannot be overcome by legal integration", Romeo acknowledges. "But it is also true that some rights, for instance the freedom to contract marriage or personal data protection, may turn into powerful tools to create identity if their exercise is ensured by central institutions". This process is enabled by two dynamics: federalization, that is the process tending towards political integration, and constitutionalization, that is the transformation at the end of which the constitutional norms permeate the legal system and therefore both the relationship between citizen and state and between citizens. "The EU has made significant progress in this transformation. Integration is still possibile".

Read more about this topic:
Gianmarco Ottaviano. The Cost of Non-Europe
Electoral Results Explained Through Emotion Theory
The Four Pillars of European Capitalism
Human Rights Are Increasingly Important
Transparency Means Banks Won't Need to Be Saved
The Robot Vote Has Brought Success for Nationalists
The Importance of Reputation in Public Contract Bids
Finding a Compromise for Tomorrow's Relations Between UE and UK
Foreign CEOs Get More out of Acquisitions
When It Comes to Fake News, Don't Imitate the USA
Productivity Cannot Be Balanced with Computers
Europe Should Opt for Qualified Majority Voting on Taxation Issues
My Europe: Seven Bocconi alumni who work for various EU institutions tell us what Europe means to them