European identity in an enlarged Europe

Abstract

Only thirteen years ago Romano Prodi, former president of the Commission, welcomed the Central European member states “into the EU family” and celebrated the demise of the “artificial division” between the East and West. The situation could not be more different now. Hungary and Poland on the one hand and the rest of the EU on the other hand seem to increasingly grow apart ideologically and debates about the existence of a European identity have sprung up. Especially gender and minority rights have become integral parts of the discussion. This qualitative holistic and comparative research therefore studies the implementation of the gender and minority rights policies in Hungary and Poland and its implications for the existence of a European identity in the period 2010-2017.