EU political identity: New paradigms, old problems [Политическая идентичность ес: Новые парадигмы и старые проблемы]

The article is dedicated to the analysis of the controversial question of European political identity. The issue of conceptualizing the European identity is connected to the necessity of achieving a common European political and geographical dimension. The research explores the reasons for the lack of shared acceptance of a general idea about the political dimension and the future of the community by the EU members. By arguing that the European identity-building process rests on the concepts of centrality of the individual in society and Christianity as a model of civilizational development and socio-cultural integration, the author demonstrates that the essence of a united Europe is not only pluralistic but universalistic. Consequently, it is necessary to rethink the nature of the European Union. © 2018 Institute of Europe Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.