Comp. by: PG1891 Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0001484457 Date:28/11/11 Time:15:06:23 Filepath:d:/womat-filecopy/0001484457.3D 2 Europe à la carte? European citizenship and its dimensions from the perspective of national elites Maurizio Cotta and Federico Russo 1 2.1 Introduction Over the years, new elements of a European citizenship have been progres- sively included in the proto-constitution (the treaties), the laws and the judicial rulings of the European Union, and now form a highly significant, albeit complex, legal, institutional, and policy reality (O’ Leary 1996; Closa 1998; Eder and Giesen 2001; Bellamy, Castiglione, and Shaw 2005). This testifies to an increasingly explicit self-understanding of the European Union as a polis: even more as a polity with democratic (although imperfect) foundations. Yet citizenship as a political phenomenon does not entail only a system of legal regulations; a fundamental aspect is the penetration of this idea (and the different elements of which it is composed) in the minds and the behaviour of the crucial components of the European political system. The experience of national states indicates that citizenship exists and develops as a real life phenomenon only as long as citizens, political actors, and authorities under- stand themselves and their roles as part of a ‘citizenship game’ and translate this mindset into appropriate behaviour. This test should also be applied to the European polity. When thinking about Europe, do European people 1 This chapter was discussed and written jointly, but Russo was particularly responsible for subsections on ‘The nature of the EU citizenship’ and ‘Threats to European cohesion’, and for the main section on ‘A More Synthetic Presentation of Elite Positions’. The research for this chapter was funded by a grant from the IntUne project (Integrated and United: A quest for Citizenship in an ever closer Europe) financed by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union, Priority 7, Citizens and Governance in a Knowledge Based Society (CIT3-CT-2005-513421). OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 28/11/2011, SPi 14