European citizenship as a new concept for European identity

In the Lisbon Treaty the European symbols are no longer expressing European identity. Because of this, the ‘making’ of a European identity after the model of a national identity can be called unsuccessful. In this paper, it will be argued that neither other cultural-historical ideas offer a fruitful approach to set up a European identity. Instead of a top-down approach, we will argue for the reversed approach that is able to anchor the European identity in the architecture of the Union, namely the linking of European identity to the concept taking a central position in Union law after Lisbon, the so-called European citizenship.