Preservation of national identity and interests in the enlarged EU

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to deal with the solution to the problem of preserving national identity in national interest as relevant element of welfare of population in accessing countries and (and, to that extend, in existing small and less developed EU members). First, basic notions of national identity and interest will be defined and placed in theoretical framework. Second, presence of these notions (“national” against “European”) in EU constitution will be reviewed and formal criteria for deciding on substance of national interests in different fields of life will be proposed. Third, these criteria will be applied to economic sphere of life and at the end, to other sphere of life. The intention is to define which solutions are in national interest to preserve national identity and thus achieve the optimal welfare of population, which is possible under available resources.