How European Do Young Slovenians Feel?

Abstract

The last two decades of European integration have been challenging for European identity for various reasons. First, the 2004 and subsequent enlargement (in 2007 and 2013) of the EU to Central and Eastern Europe have further extended the diversity of the integration. Second, concerns with European identity have become even stronger as the EU has faced a permanent period of crisis. Third, the growing populism and authoritative politics in Europe are responsible for further differentiation and growing instability across the EU. Addressing the problem of European identity is thus inevitable. The goal of the EU is to build a collective European identity that helps reinforce integration via either the cultural dimension coordinated on the EU level, aimed at establishing a common European sense of belonging while complementing national, regional, and local identities, or the activities of various EU projects that support European ideas and values. In this article, we consider the presence and robustness of a European identity as a civic and cultural component among the citizens most directly involved in European projects that seek to add to it: elementary school students. The analysis is based on a survey conducted among Slovenian elementary school students who had participated in EU‐related project activities. Students' self‐assessment of their European identity and associated variables were measured before and after those activities. Our assumption is that participation in the project activities bolstered the students' European identity. The results show that the students already expressed a high level of European identity prior to the project activities, leaving little room for a stronger identity, which nevertheless speaks in favour of making sure that EU‐related topics have a permanent place in the educational process.