Training the European Citizen? Reflections on the Concept of Civic Education within the Framework of the European Transnational Integration Policy

This article discusses the possibility of thinking a European citizenship education from the perspective of political theory. In 2009, the European Economic and Social Committee advised the European Union (EU) to introduce a “[c]ommon European civic education” to give “its citizens a real sense of belonging” to Europe. Civic education programs already exist on the national level, for state-based citizenships. Yet, their pure transposition from the national to the European context – somewhat similar to the nation-state – cannot be taken for granted. Besides practical concerns, the raisons are twofold: first, the EU does not follow the same logic of construction which once characterized the nation-state. It seems thus neither productive nor desirable to attribute education in the European integration process the same role it played in nation-building. Secondly, the EU has some specific features which pose challenges when civic education is applied to European citizenship; indeed, the concept of civic education has traditionally been thought on nation-state assumptions (categories, issues, problems). In this article, the author proposes an analysis of these challenges and indicates routes for re-thinking civic education in the framework of the EU. To do this, she relies on post- and transnational writings in European studies as well as on different studies on the role of schools in nation-state construction and research on civic education as a political and ethical problem.