Indeed, no clear “territorial representation” of the EU was ever proposed by the promoters of the European integration. On the contrary, they emphasized the “blurred” character of the EU boundaries, either to allow the functionalist method to perform (coexistence of multi-scale and multi-spaces policies) or to welcome new states in the Union. The debate about the candidacy of Turkey in the EU and, to a certain point, the actual situation in Ukraine are two manifestations of this instability.
What influence has this situation on the European identity? If we consider the European construction as a form of state building, the symbolic delimitation of the territory should be somehow included in the process. This paper wish to show that the “territory issue” is one aspect of the current crisis in the European Union. Using political science concepts as well as texts analysis from EU key players, we will try to underline the gap between leader’s choices and people’s expectations towards the definition of European identity.
