Federalism and Normative Dimensions of European Politics: Values as Identity and/or Policy Variables

Abstract

In the context of the current crisis that is affecting the European Union, discussions on the application of the federal model to the EU have resurfaced. But federation is not a mere category to describe the allocation of power, it suggests a moral dimension, a global ethics of politics. Two levels of analyses can be distinguished. This ethics is at work in EU policies dealing with citizenship, identity and culture. These policies are obviously related to the conscious or unconscious construction of a community of norms or values. Existing research has already analysed EU institutions’ efforts in these domains as well as their impact on the minds of European citizens. Further scholarship is needed to document the impact of more recent developments, following enlargments and social crises, and to assess the reinforcement of a European federation as a polity gaining the allegiance of its citizens. But recent political science has too often been reluctant coming to grasp with the fundamental question of the existence/emergence of a European body of values in the formulation of public policies. The EU is increasingly intervening in highly controversial areas of politics, such as the regulation of data privacy, medical or agricultural biotechnologies and deciding on whether to fund controversial areas of research. When such policy issues come onto the European agenda, debates shift towards the discussion of fundamental values and policy compromises require basic agreement on relevant ethical norms. The most controversial cases are when values collide as policy and identity resources, for example when abortion or research on stem cells are attacked as in contradiction with Christian Europe. The panel invites theoretical or empirical contributions which examine whether a ‘European body of values’ is in the making from many possible and innovative perspectives. Papers may tackle the issue of values as identity or policy variable or, still better, discuss the connections between the two.

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