EURONAT: Representation of Europe and the nation in current and prospective member states: media, elites and civil society  

The Polish part of this project has been coordinated by Prof. Krystyna Romaniszyn of the Institute of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University. It is an international project with Hungarian, Italian, Czech, Austrian, German, English, Spanish and Greek participants. The project has been executed for 3 years now and is scheduled till 2005. Polish participants include researchers and report writers: Prof. Jarosław Górniak from the Institute of Sociology, Mr Jacek Kołodziej, PhD from the Institute of Journalism, Ms Aldona Nicpoń-Guzik, MA from the Institute of Sociology, Mr Jacek Nowak, PhD from the Institute of Sociology, Prof. Krystyna Romaniszyn from the Institute of Sociology, Ms Barbara Worek, MA from the Institute of Sociology, Ms Dorota Uchowska-Skiba, PhD from the university of Mining and Metallurgy.

The project lies at the crossroads between different research traditions on nations and European integration in political science, sociology, social psychology, cultural studies, history and international relations forms which draw at the theoretical and methodological levels. It aims at analyzing and comparing the intertwining of European and national identities and particularly the role of the Eastern enlargement in this, in the nine countries under examination. In each case, the relationship between national and European identities is analysed through the images, representations, understandings and meanings of empirical research, special emphasis is laid on the role of the media as the discursive universe within which national and European identities are formed.

The project is of high European significance, because it analyses the multiple national identities and European orientation as legitimacy bases of the European integrations process and its enlargement towards the East. It provides for original and extensive data concerning the perception of national identity and the ways in which this is intertwined or contrasted to representations of Europe and the EU. Moreover, the project is exploring how the relationship between nationality and citizenship is framed in the individual member states. Findings on these issues are extremely important for the design of social and cultural policies at the EU level. They highlight diversity and particular sensitivities of specific national environments and thus may guide the design of cultural and education policies that promote information on the EU and strengthen the links between the individual states and the Union. Suggestions are made through policy memos concerning media communication strategies to be adopted at the national and European level for this purpose. Furthermore, information on identity issues that are particularly sensitive in specific member states, contributes to the design of culture-sensitive policies in sectors such as education, welfare or immigration, where some states may be reluctant than others in accepting and applying European rulings.

Moreover, we are pleased to inform that the Polish part of the research project EURONAT will be concluded with the book publication. The book edited by Krystyna Romaniszyn and entitled: Portraits and Auto portrait, has already been submitted to the Publishing House NOMOS (Krakow) and will probably be issued in January 2005.

Profesor Krystyna Romaniszyn, Ph.D.

Institute of Sociology, JU