L’Union européenne entre crise de légitimité et crise d’identité. Le rôle du mythe et de l’identité culturelle dans le processus d’intégration européenne

The paper explores the origins of the EU’s legitimacy crisis and highlights the im­portance of cultural identity as a foundation and as a unifying factor for Europe. Despite the economical and political progress of European integration, the emo­tional dimension of the union is almost absent, so that the Europeans’ sense of be­longing remains mainly national. The process of European integration has used a certain political mythology in order to generate a sense of identification and to le­gitimate itself. Nevertheless, the emotional impact of this mythology has not been able to compete with national ones. The European institutions recently launched initiatives aimed at promoting cultural integration and at giving rise to a new narra­tive for Europe, which should strengthen the sense of belonging and bridge the le­gitimacy gap. We are then facing the beginnings of a new phase of European inte­gration, centred on enhancing the cultural dimension of the union.