The Euro Crisis and European Identities: What Future for European Unity?

Charlotte Galpin, Post Doc, Centre for Modern European Studies, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen

Abstract: The Euro crisis has had far-reaching economic and political effects for the EU. The crisis, however, has also had implications for European identities and has tested the limits of European solidarity. Drawing on empirical findings from Germany, Ireland and Poland, Galpin challenges the commonly held view that identities change dramatically at times of crisis but shows that they instead become polarised around the multiple existing and contested identity discourses in EU member states. She argues that this very resilience helps to understand the EU’s current divisions. The lecture will show how understanding identity dynamics during the crisis has implications not just for the future of the single currency as an identity-building project, but also for tackling the EU’s future challenges – the refugee crisis, Brexit and the EU’s democratic legitimacy.

About the Lecture Series "European Futures?"

For the first time a member state has decided to exit the European Union. Growing Euroscepticism in all parts of Europe, rising nationalism, and more people than ever believing the European project is failing point perhaps to the dawn of a new and very different Europe. This autumn the EURECO Distinguished Lecture Series, entitled ‘European Futures?’, will explore the prospects for the Europe of tomorrow. We are pleased to welcome you on this journey.

In the first two lectures by Hans-Jörg Trenz and Michael Bossetta we will investigate possible explanations for increasing Euroscepticism and rising populism across Europe and think about  the consequences for Europe and the future of the EU. In the third lecture Charlotte Galpin will introduce us to the implications of the EU crisis for European identities and solidarity, and how changes to these have implications for tackling the EU’s future challenges. In the fourth lecture Holly Snaith will dig into one of the most pressing and significant challenges EU faces: Brexit and the consequences, not just for the UK, but also for Europe as a whole, with one of the main questions being whether Brexit signals further disintegration of the EU. In the last two of the ordinary EURECO lectures we move on to look at the legal and judicial integration of Europe. In his lecture Juan Mayoral will examine the relevance of trust for the EU’s multi-level judicial system, while Graham Butler will explore how recent events, such as the financial and migration crises, create tensions for the European legal order. In the Final Honorary Lecture we have the great pleasure to welcome to Copenhagen Professor Dame Helen Wallace from the British Academy (latterly of the LSE, the European University Institute in Florence and the University of Sussex), one of the world’s most distinguished scholars of European integration.

The EURECO Distinguished Lectures are open to the public and we invite everyone who takes an interest in European issues to sign-up for a series where some of the best scholars within the field will present and discuss their current work. 

The lectures will take place Wednesdays from 15.15 – 17.00 in Alexandersalen, Bispetorvet 1-3, Copenhagen.

Registration is free of charge but necessary at www.eureco.ku.dk

To read more on the distinguised lecture series visit eureco's site.