EU 확대와 유럽시민권: 단일 정체성 형성과 통합의 전망

Abstract

This article aims at examining the 5th enlargement of the European Union(EU) and its impacts on the formation of European identity and EU citizenship. At the Copenhagen summit meetings that convened in December 2002 the European Union finally approved the plans for the Union’s enlargement towards the East European and Mediterranean regions. At once implemented, the plans will lead to the EU’s emergence as a gigantic regional community by the year 2004 as the ten new member states are expected to join it at that time. It would signify a quantum leap achievement throughout the history of the European community. On the one hand, the advance of the EU into the East European and Mediterranean countries can be understood as a consequence of the Europeans’ deliberate efforts to overcome the longstanding Cold War legacy on the continent and to realize a unified Europe commanded by the Europeans themselves. On the other hand, it would also reflect the Europeans’ aspirations to construct a higher level of regional community based on such universal values and norms as democracy and human rights. Meanwhile, there exist prevalent sources of uncertainties about the prospects of European integration stemmed from the lack of a common European identity among the European peoples and the limited nature of the systemic capacity of the EU in coping with wide-ranging problems and challenges arising in the process of the enlargement. It is against this background that the EU leaders have striven to establish a new concept of European citizenship by which they hoped to encourage a sense of strong cohesion among the Europeans and to realize a viable public space revolving around the Union. After dealing with the ongoing debates on European citizenship, this study ponders the potentials, along with the limitations, of a common European identity and citizenship.