pean identities , in the plural 3 .
Belonging to the ‘ European community ’ therefore implies layers of multiple identities , which is a new concept that extends beyond the idea dating from the Enlightenment of a sole and exclusive national identity .
Already in the modern nation-states , Chabod points out that a notion of pluralism can be found in the overcoming of linguistic unity as a parameter of community belonging The United States and the United Kingdom , or Latin America and Spain , may speak the same languages , but they are not single nations . The opposite is true of Switzerland , which is a single nation but has four languages . These examples show that the criterion of belonging to a political community do not boil down to speaking a common language , thereby effectively giving the lie to the archetypal idea of uniform and monolithic national cultures .
The various identities of the peoples of Europe have been constructed in this ‘ open world ’, as Martinelli describes it , forming a common cultural , political and social backdrop .
Individual European identities therefore coexist with shared core values and acquis , forming common roots ( Greek philosophy , Roman law , Renaissance civilisation , artistic and cultural movements of the 19th and 20th centuries ), with European integration being based on these democratic and interlocking developments .
At a European level , commemoration plays a key role in disseminating , calling to mind and strengthening these values and common roots , which are a distinct hinge around which belonging
3 . Alberto Martinelli , The European Identity in Quaderni di Sociologia – Social Sciences and Europe , 2011
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