Mémoire
| Résumé : | This study seeks to investigate one of the most debated issues in the contemporary context of the European Union: the question of a European identity. Although the existence of a common identity in Europe remains a contested idea, a part of the EU scholarship argues that a shared identity might develop or be developed through identity policy measures. This is why I study the strategies which have been observed as identity-building processes and I focus on one of them: the role of language in the promotion of the European identity. According to theories like Post Structuralism, language constitutes reality and identities: in order to understand how identities are constructed, it is thus necessary to analyse language and discourse. The methodology of discourse analysis entered the EU studies during the 1990s when scholars began to apply the theories of language to the case of the European Union in order to explore sociological issues. On these premises, I have chosen to conduct a discourse analysis on the theme of the European identity arguing that it is a product of language, and I therefore study how the European institutions address this topic in their discourses. In order to provide an answer to my research question, I analyse four speeches delivered by the former President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, during his mandate (2014-2019). The platform of the State of the Union Address (SOTEU) will allow me to observe how Juncker tackled the issue of identity while at the same time addressing the multiple crises the European Union was facing at the time. My theoretical framework, my methodology and my analysis will ultimately lead me to conclude that Juncker played a rather moderate role in the promotion of the European identity during his Presidency. |
