Rene Wadlow writes about European identity and its fluidity. He attempts to define European Identity in spite of the fact that he admits that it may be unrecognizable and unverifiable :
But European identity doesn’t consist of the use of one language, many languages or specific languages. If we intend for identity the complete and absolute equality or the persistence of the unity of an individual or of a collective people without considering the alteration of some attributes and qualities, a European identity becomes very difficult to recognize and perhaps it is not verifiable.
During the Enlightenment many intellectuals started to appeal to Europe as a point of reference for their identity, but it was not a true identity, at most it was an identity of élites. The idea of Europe, very vague in that age, coincided more or less with the cosmopolitan ideal. Neither was there a real idea of Europe in the words of Napoleon and after him of the prince of Metternich.
Today, if we ask a European what Europe means, what Europe is, what the European identity is, we would probably experience difficulties in answering. If we ask him if he feels European, he will hesitate for a moment, if pressed for an answer, he will say that he feels French, German or Italian. In order to help him we can say that to-day we are subject to a pluralistic identity, the national and the European one, and nevertheless conclude that a European identity doesn’t exist.
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