EUROPEAN VALUES: BETWEEN A STRONG AFFIRMATION AND A GENUINE AMBIGUITY

JOVANOVIĆ Miloš (Autor je docent na Pravnom fakultetu Univerziteta u Beogradu),

European values are as present in public discourse as they are fundamentally unspecified. The main reason for the normative rise of European values in European treaties lies in the necessity of founding the European Union on the solid axiological ground, forging a European identity, and, therefore, strengthening its legitimacy. Nevertheless, this goal could hardly be achieved with regard to the fact that European values, as they are defined in article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, cannot be considered as constitutive elements of a collective identity in the same way they can be found in other political communities, such as nation-states. They are no more than mere principles with legal consequences that can be found in many legal systems of different countries in the world. Furthermore, the way they are put into practice within the EU, i.e., in accordance with the dominant individualistic ideology, could be a sign of the historical decline of Europe that could be fatal to it when we bear in mind the geopolitical and immigration issues that Europe is facing.

Keywords: European Values, Lisbon Treaty, Identity, Legitimacy, Rule of Law, Human Rights, Ideology