Rule of respecting the national identities of the Member States (Zasada poszanowania tozsamosci narodowych panstw czlonkowskich)

• Author: Ilona Gradzka
• Pages: 497-503

497

ILONA GRDZKA*

“RULE OF RESPECTING THE NATIONAL IDENTITIES

OF THE MEMBER STATES”

„ZASADA POSZANOWANIA TOSAMOCI NARODOWYCH

PASTW CZŁONKOWSKICH”

SUMMARY

National identity is characterized by particular features of the members of a given national

group. It is joined by such elements as: culture, political past, common customs,

traditions, languages etc.

Contemporarily, a sense of belonging to a wider community is developing within the

number of European national communities, and, thus, a so-called, “European identity” is

being formed. In the course of developing the European integration, the European

Community and its successor – the European Union, put an increasing emphasis on the

necessity of preserving the national identities.

For that reason, the European Union has established the requirements for respecting the

identities of particular nations as early as in 1992 in the Maastricht Treaty. This way, the idea

of respecting national identities has become one of the constitutional regulations of the

European Union. The preamble to the Treaty puts emphasis on the desire “to deepen the

solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history, their culture and their

traditions”. What is more, the Article F, point 1 of the Treaty on European Union clearly stated

that the Union “shall respect the national identities of its Member States, whose systems of

government are founded on the principles of democracy”.

Initially, it was argued that the regulations within the treaties were only declarations of

political intentions which had been introduced to the Treaty on European Union in order

to calm the parts of public opinion in the Member States due to their anxiety about the

negative influence of the European integration on the national identities and sovereignty.

At present, the rule of national identities of Member States, in the form greatly expanded

by the Lisbon Treaty, is placed in the Art 4, point 2 of the Treaty on European Union.

In the Treaty on European Union, according to the interpretation by the Lisbon Treaty, the

idea of “natio nal ide ntity” has been specified and its unbreakable connection to the basic

political and constitutional structures of the states, including local and regional governments,

has been underlined. Moreover, the Union is obli ged to respect the basic functions of the state,

especially the functions which aim at assuring its territorial integrity, keeping public order and

protecting national security. The treaty emphasizes that the issues of national security remain in

the exclusive responsibility of every Member State.

The Lisbon Treaty accentuates that national identity includes also the constitutional

identity of Memb er Stat es. Resp ecting of the national identity of Member States in its

constitutional dimension is a duty of the Union, set upon it in the founding acts. However, it

needs to be clarified that maintaining the constitutional identity of the Member States cannot be

understood as absolute respect of all of the national constitutional regulations. If that was the

case, the national constitutions could become instrument s which would allow the Member

States to release themselves from the Union law in certain areas.

Furthermore, the Treaties protect the cultural and lingual diversity of nations and

societies. It needs to be stressed that the nation, whose identity is to be respected by the

* John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin