Berkley Center

Since coming to the United Kingdom, I periodically ask my British counterparts a simple question, "Who are you?" Fully realizing the latent pejorative and ambiguity of the question, I quickly add a corollary to it. I ask, "What, would you say, constitutes your identity?" Afterward, steering away from existential responses, I try to frame the discussion around British national identity and a broader European supranational identity. Since the advent of the European Union, a common question posed to “Europeans” is one of personal identification: How do they project themselves before others? How do they see themselves vis-à-vis fellow countrymen?

After the disaggregation of Europe, one can find 27 national identities, hundreds of sub-national identities beneath the national exterior, a variety of languages, and a plethora of religious denominations such as Catholicism, Methodism, Greek Orthodoxy, Judaism, or Islam. Some of these identities are coterminous, and others are more difficult to reconcile. However, Europe is trying to merge them, or rather, the European Union is trying to do so. So how do the Brits respond? I've asked individuals in my classes, dinner outings, and school events, and my sense is that British people clearly see themselves as British first and then European.

The difference between the pound and euro illustrates this. During this ongoing crisis of Greek debt, in which the European Union and European Central Bank are trying to preserve the strength and sustenance of the euro in light of Greece's potential loan default, British newspapers are raving about the astute decision to reject acceding into the eurozone. Not only do they feel they have a stronger currency, but they feel that they intelligently bypassed economic disaster whereas their European “counterparts” contrived an economic system from fantastic wishes of an integrated economic system. The British logic prevailed, at least in their minds. And at least for now.

The question of identity goes deeper, however. From all my conversations, British citizens seek to attain all the salient benefits of being a European Union member state without relinquishing their national identity or national sovereignty. This may be a pervasive sentiment across Europe. I spoke with a French student at King's College, and she reflected that French politicians and citizens see France at the forefront of the EU, aiming to reap the benefits of this continental bloc without forgoing French national identity. For Britain and France, I do believe there is a distinct element of national identity that spurs national pride. In the case of the United Kingdom, whether it is a distinguished and storied history, or geographic separation from continental Europe, there is something inherently “British-first” and “European-second” about British citizens. To quote a friend, "I don't see myself as European, really. Me relative to Europe? Not at all. But me relative to America? I'd still say I am British first and then perhaps European." So what does that mean for politics?

If the British mentality as I observe is prevalent elsewhere in the country, then the hearts and minds of citizens will still be subservient to that of the queen before the European Union. British citizens will continue following the personalities of the Conservative Party, Labour Party, and Liberal Democrats before they open up the Guardian column on Turkish accession to the European Union. They will cling to the pound and mock the euro, at least while Angela Merkel and George Papandreou struggle to reach a viable and sustainable solution to the Greek debt crisis. Retaining their British identity is paramount to citizens, and it doesn't seem as though it will change. British citizens will drive politics in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom will drive politics in the European Union. But British citizens, at large, will not truly immerse themselves into European Union politics. This can change. At the onset of World War II, the idea of a European Union seemed farcical. However, 65 years later, it is a political fact and reality. Given this, identities can change as well. So perhaps a European identity can emerge in time.

This much is true for now: if you told a British student that within two to three generations, a European identity will prevail over a British one, he or she would just laugh and say that the Liberal Democrats have a better shot at winning the next election.