FERON Olivier

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1951, European unity moved from the realm of dreams to reality. Common institutions were created, as well as a Community law that harmonized the laws of the member states and a recognized supranational citizenship. However, can we affirm that the European community exists? Doesn't it also require the existence of a common representation that brings together peoples who have lived through their histories in the rhythm of conflicts? Is there a feeling of belonging together in Europe? We maintain that the unidentified political object that is the European Union can only be represented if it assumes its europeanity. In other words, the existence of a consolidated European political community is here conditioned to the representation of the European identity, to the existence of a set of shared references and thus federator of the differences which constitute it. It will be a question of questioning, in a first moment, the relations maintained by Europe with time and space. These will then make it possible to identify the characteristic features of Europeanness at the origin of a European style. This European style will then be associated with the political construction, as the content must be associated with the form. This will then be the moment to question the European political models in order to finally know which of the nation-state and the empire is the most adequate to the European style.