Europa patria nostra

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines how the MSI/AN and the RN employed the concept of identity to define Europe. It shows how since the 1970s, the parties thought of ‘Europe’ as a distinct civilization, with clear boundaries separating it from foreign others. Both groups claimed to belong to this civilization and initially supported European integration in its name. However, from the mid 1980s onwards, the RN began to develop a ‘pro-Europe, anti-EU’ message which presented the EU as a violation of Europe’s true nature. The MSI/AN, on the other hand, did not adopt a similar position, remaining broadly collaborative in its stance towards EU integration. Claiming to hold a European identity and support Europe, the chapter argues, made it possible for the parties to refashion their message in a more transnational direction and draw on a form of legitimacy by association which helped them address critiques of them as ‘closed’ nationalist organizations.