Dynamics of European identity in Britain based on the Eurobarometer (1990-2000s)

It is not for the first decade that problems of the formation of the EU identity are on the agenda of the organization. Awareness of themselves as of the citizens of the European Union and its integral part is important in terms of strengthening both the unity of the organization and its foreign policy cohesion. The continuing economic depression, the confrontation with Russia in connection with the civil war in the Ukraine, mutual sanctions, and other manifestations of deteriorating relations threaten the European Union with fragmentation and the deepening of the crisis. In this situation the role of the common European identity is very important. It is necessary to take into account that the identity of the EU is one of the most delicate matters of the organization. Researchers argue for caution when identity categories are applied. The formation of the European identity is a difficult (and sometimes impossible) task, requiring a lot of effort and great care. Everything connected with the consciousness of man, his or her sense of belonging to someone or something is difficult to be measured and to be dissected into stable and dynamic elements. However, over the last decade, the European Commission has developed a flexible list of components of the EU identity, combining both mobile and static elements. Public opinion polls conducted by the Eurobarometer service since the beginning of the 1970s make it possible to determine sentiments in the European Community / Union in relation to different areas of the EU policy, including the common European identity. The data from this sociological organization enable us to trace the dynamics of the attitude of residents of this or that country to the efforts of the European Commission aimed at the formation of the EU identity. Britain has a reputation of an awkward partner in the European Union and its population is Eurosceptic towards common European identity. London’s long-standing rejection of many of the initiatives of the European Union has given rise to suspicions even in the absence of any dynamics in this matter. But it is only at first glance. The absence of appreciable dynamics can be captured only in the characterization of the role of London in the EU, referred to as a “special position”. It is difficult to disagree with this definition, but it is also difficult to claim that there is a complete lack of mobility in Britain's position on a number of important Union policies, to which, of course, the problem of the formation of the EU identity belongs. Eurobarometer reports show a commitment to the national identity in the UK, and this commitment is not so much an evidence of the country’s Euroscepticism as of posing questions about the properties of national memory and spirit of its domestic - and foreign - consciousness. Not only the United Kingdom, but also the European Union as a whole is on the crossroads: its internal and foreign policy strategies need to be revised and its role and future path in the international arena need to be defined. When the search is completed the Commission may return to the term identity and to the problem of its saturation with new elements in the new configuration of forces within and beyond the Union.

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