Beyond National Citizenship? Assessing Citizenship Education Approaches at EU Level

This paper will discuss EU approaches in citizenship education. Traditionally known from the (nation)state context, this teaching also appears at the EU level. A recent example from 2015 is the project of “promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education”. States tend to use citizenship education for purposes such as raising awareness about rights and duties, ensuring citizens’ loyalty and support, enhancing civic participation, increasing democratic legitimacy or strengthen social cohesion. As citizenship education generally subscribes to nation-state assumptions, it is relevant to further investigate the use the EU makes of it. Which kind of citizens do European institutions suggest to raise? To what extent do they deal with the EU as a Union of both states and citizens (“demoicracy”, Nicolaïdis 2012) and teach a form of citizenship corresponding to its situation : without a single state, people and nation, but with a huge diversity in various senses ? This paper will combine normative political theory with empirical research. I will start by introducing three possible models of citizenship. Relying on a content analysis of EU documents, I will then examine existing EU initiatives and propositions on citizenship education. Thirdly, I will show that tensions appear between and within these approaches. EU institutions lack an in-depth consideration of potential and limits of a European citizenship education. I will argue the transnational setting requires adjusting the project in some points.