Discursive Construction of European Identity —— A Case Study on EU Documents〔* 〕

He Rong

(School of Foreign Studies Southwest University for Nationalities，Chengdu Sichuan 610041)

Ⅰ．The options of EU document

The most representative official documents relevant to“European Identity”in the process of European integration after 1970s are selected as below:1．Copenhagen Declaration(in 1973);2．Tindemans Report(in 1976);〔1〕3．Solemn Declaration on European U nion(in 1983);〔2〕4．Addonizio Report(in 1985);〔3〕5．Further promote cultural development within the EU(in 1987);〔4〕6．People’s Europe(in 1988);〔5〕7．The Maastricht Treaty(in 1992);〔6〕8．European U nion Charter of Fundamen-tal Rights Discussion(in 2000);〔7〕9．Schedule of European Cultural in a Globalizing World(in 2007)．〔8〕

The above documents were selected based on the following considerations．First of all，these official documents involve treaties，declarations，announcements and officials’reports，which are concerning the conception of European Identity directly，or scratch the relevant conception of cultural domains in the progress of European Integration indirectly．In terms of the contents of these documents，they contain the most profound connection with the studied discourse construction of European Identity．Besides，it has been 40 years since the announcement of Copenhagen Declaration．Those years have witnessed the increasing maturity of European Integration development and the official documents selected during the period are also of historic significance for scientific research．Furthermore，the official documents mentioned above，which are related to the conception of European Identity，could respectively be divided into a stage in a decade．When born as a background，these documents intensively conveyed the epoch appeals．Meantime，the derivative discourses centering on identity emerged subsequently，and on the premise of penetration of the consistency of principal line，these derivative discourses demonstrated the liquidity and diversity of European I-dentity statement at different times．

Ⅱ．The rationales of discourse analysis

This study considers the formation of“European Identity”conception itself as a discursive construction process，whose peculiarity is flowing rather than static．Some linguists indicated that linguistic analysis should not be confined in the functions beyond the services for social activities．〔9〕Instead，it should reconcile language’s dual functions:one is the function to convey information of content and theme，another one is to reveal the mutual social relations．What’s more，some linguists exposed discursive interpretation to the broad social and cultural field，holding that discourse was the indicative combination of system composition，which voiced the significance and value of regime in certain fields and provided the structure and manner patterns for the themes，objects and process referred to．〔10〕

Ⅲ．Discourse narration of“European Identity”in EU text

Based on the core word“identity”，vocabulary is divided into two types，singular words and plural words．Singular derivatives include civilization，unity and European dimension while citizens，peoples，cultures and diversity belong to plural derivatives．Moreover，independent vocabulary related to theme，such as symbol，cultural heritage，and “unity in diversity”which is widely used as slogan in EU，are considered exploration subjects of word frequency．

Word frequency generated the thoughts of the relationship between identity structure and target audience formation．Though the“European i-dentity”structure was a Blueprint created by officials and elites，whether the discourse narration could be changed into discourse practice depended on the firm target audience to a large extent．A splendid strategy，to establish“citizen’s Europe”，came into being．Leo Tindemans，Belgian prime minister，incorporated“citizen’s Europe”into the report submitted to European Council，which contained the protection of citizens’rights and solidarity of diplomacy fields in 1976．In 1985，the same political concept appeared in the first paragraph of the report“citizen’s Europe”，which was submitted twice in Adonnino．He requested European Council complied with the European desires，which enhanced the image all over the world．As the concerned objects，citizens and people were quoted more than 60 times．The concept“European citizenship”has been established，after the Maastricht treaty was passed in 1992．It was specifically stated in Maastricht treaty that citizenship was founded in EU ．EU Citizen held the nationality of member states．European citizenship cannot take place of nation citizenship，but the supplementary．Afterwards，the rights of every EU citizen were defined and guaranteed from the 18th to 21st clause in Maastricht treaty，where terminology frequency related to“citizen”and“People’s Europe”was detected obviously．As one of the three basic treaties established by EU，the birth of Maastricht treaty provided legal basis for legitimacy of“citizen’s Europe”．Subsequently，European U nion Charter of Fundamental rights Discussion enacted by EU in 2001，reiterated the right of European citizens in Maastricht treaty．By preaching the concept of“citizen’s Europe”and establishing its legal status，the rights of European would be guaranteed．Thus people would experience the benefits of being European citizens．Demotic senses of belonging promoted the wide foundation of“European Identity”，the social goal of elites’．

“European Dimension”，as the most synonymous derivative of“European Identity”，the extension of its connotation also reveals the scope of European Identity to a large extent．”This concept proposed in the Tindemans Report was intended to encourage decision makers in Member States to think twice before making decisions with European dimension and always remember that European interests and European unified action would never be marginalized by states interests．〔11〕However，the paradox is that the essence of European Dimension or the fields involved failed to be deeply illustrated．Of course，the academic circle does not need to grapple with this issue at this stage．Whenever referring to the European dimension，the scholars naturally associate with the education field．A series of activities on education，which was initiated by European U nion in the 1980s，were all aimed at establishing“European Dimension”among young people，and won great acclaim in Europe．Nevertheless，little did the discourse source of European Dimension in education have retro．In fact，since the establishment of European Dimension in the Addonizio Report who advocated strengthening the exchanges and learning among young people，〔12〕the European Dimension appeared in the European U nion documents all had been linked to educational and cultural fields．The establishment of European Dimension could strengthen European Identity among young people and assist them in participating in the economic，social and cultural activities of the community．〔13〕As noted in the Mayo，language learning and dissemination of Member States could implement the development of European Dimension in education．〔14〕In the other two texts being examined，European Dimension also referred to the required qualities that cultural managers acquired after training．〔15〕In consequence，European Dimension appearing in the official text further embodied the inherent connection between education，culture field and European Identity．

Finally，in the research objects，“symbols”firstly appeared in official text in the 1980s，comparatively backward．But the discussion on the symbol itself is a significant part of European Identity in the building process．If previous European Identity had further existed in the elite’s consciousness，the establishment of“Symbols”would have become the first step towards discourse practice．In 1985，Addonizio Report required the commission to accept the proposal，which promoted to employ symbols that could fully reflect the existence of the community，such as the union flag，the union badge，the union song，the union passport style and the patterns on the stamps．In response to the report，the People’s Europe acknowledged the inextricable link between symbols and European Identity．European Identity is the common history，shared culture and fundamental values integration of the product．And you can awaken it through convergence of symbolic activities，awareness－raising campaigns and the European ideal．〔16〕In addition，the People’s Europe put the description of relationship between symbols establishment and European Identity in the first place，comprehensively analyzing the progress of symbols building．For example，the most successful European symbol is the union flag．In 1985，the flag officially adopted by the Council of Europe，firstly flying in front of the committee headquarters building in Brussels on May 26th，1986，and appeared as a symbol of the community in the Economic Summit Conference held in Tokyo．Its design is a circle that consists of 12 evenly arranged golden stars，which is printed on a blue rectangular．In terms of the meaning of the pattern，the Council of Europe gave such explanation:12 is the symbol of perfection and richness，meanwhile，it is equivalent to 12 followers of Jesus．Finally，the circle represents the union．〔17〕

The stamp is one of the significant symbols of the community because of its wide use in each country．If it could be designed properly，it would become the ideal carrier of the community，which can attract people’s attention．〔18〕Therefore，the Addonizio Report proposed to add diachronic events into the design，such as the accession of Spain，Portugal and so on．〔19〕The committee suggested issuing a set of stamps to honor the fathers of the European Community such as Schumann，Monet and so on．And they also recommended adjusting the postal charges among the member States in order to make it consistent．〔20〕The fourth section in Beethoven’s ninth symphony“Ode to Joy”had been selected the union song of the community．Besides，the Addonizio Report proposed to play the music on all appropriate ritual occasions to deepen the impression of union song among European citizens．Furthermore，some other symbols were all repeatedly stressed in the People’s Europe，like the unified passport，driving license and the popularity of the license plates，etc．In a sense，rationality of the symbols represents the historical legitimacy of the community．

Ⅳ．Conclusion

This article has made the following conclusions．First of all，vagueness of the“European Identity“definition started with the EU itself．Throughout its diachronic development，the European Union focused on different European Identity under different historical context，and these differences were exhibited in the official text through discursive form．Secondly，the“European Identity“cannot be directly equated with political or cultural dimension．The meaning of discourse symbols such as European dimension and EU activities they led strode over a single field．Then they comprehensively covered the political，cultural and social dimensions，which provided motive power for the construction of“European Identity”．Last but not least，discursive event contains practice and text level．In the context of EU framework，the sorting of the discourse system has laid the foundation for further research on culture，social activities and policies．

〔1〕CEC，Tindemans Report on European Union，Bulletin of the EC Supplement，1976，1/76．

〔2〕CEC，Solemn Declaration on European Union，Bulletin of the EC，6/1983，pp．24－29．

〔3〕〔11〕EC，A People’s Europe:Reports from the ad hoc Committee，Bulletin of the EC Supplement，1985，7/85．

〔4〕CEC，A Fresh Boost for Culture in the European Community，Bulletin of the EC Supplement，1987，4/87．

〔5〕〔12〕CEC，A People’s Europe，Bulletin of the EC Supplement，1988，2/88．

〔6〕〔15〕The Treaty on European Union(consolidated version)，Official Journal of the European Union，C321 E，2006．

〔7〕〔13〕〔16〕〔18〕〔19〕〔20〕Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union(consolidated version)，Luxembourg:Publications Office of the European Union，2010．

〔8〕〔14〕CEC，European Agenda for Culture in a Globalizing World，Commission communication，Com，2007，242 final．

〔9〕Brown，Gillian，George Yule，Discourse Analysis，Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2008．

〔10〕Kress，Gunther，Linguistic Processes in Sociocultural Practice，Oxford University Press，1989．

〔17〕Shore，Cris，Building Europe:The Cultural Politics of European Integration，London:Routledge，2000．