European Integration's Identity Crisis: Causes and Legal-Constitutional Perspectives Between Populism, Politics and Power

Abstract

The European integration is facing today a populist pressure which adds to the nationalist drive. Despite such movements behold a short-sighted and materially anti-democratic cosmovision, they are coming to power precisely through the instruments of formal democracy. They are phenomena potentially threatening to democracy, nevertheless generated in democracy, based on the fundamental rights that define it – such as freedom of association and of speech. Having the European integration emerged as an anti-fascist response to the collapse of the rule of law in the period between the two World Wars, the article questions which the causes are for this state of play and how to envisage the future of the European Union.

Keywords

• integração europeia
• crise de identidade
• populismo
• democracia
• cidadania de direitos