Why Europe?: German-Italian Reflections on a Common Topic

There is a strong interest in debating the most urgent questions emerging in Europe today, questions around concepts such as "consensus", "solidarity", "integration" and "participation".

This book is the summary of papers presented at the workshop "From Ideas on Europe to the European Citizens: Why Europe?" at the German-Italian Center of European Excellence Villa Vigoni. The first part of this book examines what past generations expected of Europe, in particular which answers were given to the question "Why Europe?". The second part of the book addresses the concept of "European Citizenship", within the legal and political framework of the idea of "citizen" ("Bürger", "cittadino") in a European dimension. The third part consists of some critical analyses of the contemporary make up of European societies.

Immacolata Amode, direttrice, Ernst-Bloch-Zentrum Ludwigshafen, e professore onorario, Universita di Magonza. E stata segretario generale del Centro Italo-Tedesco per l'Eccellenza Europea Villa Vigoni. Christiane Liermann holds a PhD in the History of Political Thought (University of Zurich, Switzerland). Her areas of interest include the history of the German-Italian Relations and the role of Religion in Society. She is Scholar at the German-Italian Center Villa Vigoni. Edith Pichler holds a PhD in Political Science at the Free University Berlin and the Italian National Scientific Qualification. Her areas of interest include migration, ethnicity, social politics and cultures of remembrance in Europe. She is member of the Federal Council for Migration and teaches at the Institute for Economy and Social Sciences (University of Potsdam). Matteo Scotto holds a Master Degree in European Governance and Regulation at the Centre for European Integration Studies (ZEI) of Bonn. He is now a Phd candidate in Political Science at the University of Bonn and fellow of the research project "RUB-Europadialog" at the University of Bochum. His work focuses on a comparative study on the development of political identities in Europe and in the United States.