European Citizenship between Legal Standardization and Identity Factor: Pathways for an Intercultural Citizenship

Abstract

Citizenship is simultaneously a foundational, individual, and universal concept. It also embodies a tendency to transcend the limits of any specific political community and become a universal legal status. European citizenship pertains to a union of peoples and is acquired derivatively through the citizenship of Member States. It has been described as a “bundle of rights of different legal, political, and existential significance”, yet the existential identity of the European citizen remains difficult to define due to the lack of a European Constitution. This paper aims to analyze the possible forms of political and social participation that connect individuals and groups, along with their identities, to a distinct way of conceiving the European Union and European citizenship.