Promoting the European Identity: Politeness Strategies in the Discourse of the European Union

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary results of a study on the discourse of the European Union (EU). I argue that the EU, as a public institution, is affected by the global spread of consumerism from the private to the public sphere, and the production of new forms of commodities, known as ‘public goods’. As the lack of a feeling of European belonging among EU citizens is often thought to fuel Euro-skepticism, I also argue that the European identity is among the main ‘products’ that need to be advertised to smooth the process of European integration. However, promoting a supranational identity may be particularly problematic in the European context since, generally speaking, Europeans possess well-defined national identities. In pragmatic terms, promoting a European identity may be perceived as a threat to Europeans’ national face and provoke further resistance.  Drawing from Fairclough’s analytical taxonomy (1989) and Brown and Levinson’s politeness model (1987), the study suggests that EU discourse does feature traits of the promotional genre typical of corporate communication, and that the European identity represents a key object of this promotion; the analysis also reveals discursive efforts to safeguard Europeans’ positive and negative national face. Although no generalizations are possible, considering the limited sample of EU discourse examined, the findings and pragmatic reading proposed henceforth offer interesting insights for further research in this direction.