Do young people feel like they belong to the European Union?

In a world dominated by a few global powers, the EU struggles with fragmentation due to its rich but diverse national identities. This diversity can weaken a unified European identity (Salafranca 2025), raising the question of coexistence between national and EU identities. Indeed, today trust in the EU institutions is low (Boda 2016) and engaging politically can be a demanding task.

As the future of our nations, young people have an important role, as they are the ones who will shape the European Union’s next chapter. The youth are often more optimistic about their vision for the future and more globally minded and eager for cooperation to address large issues than their older cohorts (Wylie, 2021). They tend to do it in a more active and non-traditional way, which can have a greater resonance, as seen during the events of May 1968 in France, where the whole country was turned upside down by strong student protests (Académie de Paris, 2021). But this sense of engagement with the EU is only possible if they feel represented and responsible for the EU direction. As such, in this article we will be looking at young people and their sense of belonging to the European Union.

Our first question is whether young people identify themselves as part of the EU and feel involved in EU activities. According to the Eurobarometer 2024 (European Commission, 2024), young people hold more favorable attitudes towards the EU compared to older generations, even though their views on the EU are less consistent and tend to depend on the general context (Craith & Taylor, 2024). For example, young peoples’ attachment rises with positive experiences linked to the EU, but can decline sharply in times of political or economic crisis (Ibid.). It is in part due to the fact that they are socialized in an increasingly integrated Europe; but as mentioned above, the EU is an aggregate of different countries with different cultures, histories and traditions. It follows that it may be more or less difficult to feel a sense of belonging to this intangible concept that can vary according to different variables, whether they are geographical, educational and others.

According to the RAY Network (open research network of National Agencies of the European youth programmes), the feeling of belonging to Europe of participants of youth projects and youth work activities increased after their Erasmus+ Youth experience (2023). However, the effects of these youth programmes can be mixed depending on the context. As stated in the European Youth Strategy awareness and EU participation article from the Journal of Social Studies Education Research, in Slovakia, the intervention had a statistically significant positive effect on European citizenship scores, diverging from Bulgaria which showed a negative effect, with intervention participants reporting lower European citizenship scores.

From what we can personally see and hear while strolling around Europe, not many young people feel like they belong to our community, they feel neither the importance of being European nor all the consequences and implications it brings to their lives. As stated by EAIE (European Association for International Education), a notable cause of not feeling European is that many young people are not engaged in the decision-making process; they don’t feel part of the change.

The geographical peripheralization has, for example, one of the most powerful influences on European identification (Craith & Taylor,2024). Indeed, in more peripheral or rural settings such as those of rural Polish students, young people often feel a smaller personal connection to the EU (Lorenz & Anders, 2023). By contrast, young people who live in urban or more centralized regions are generally more exposed to EU programmes and actions, and thus tend to express a stronger sense of belonging to the European Union (Ibid.).

In addition, where civic education and EU‑related experiences are strong, youth report stronger identification and trust. Students who have a better understanding of the EU are more likely to hold a “European identity” and to be predisposed favourably towards it (Ibid.). Having at least one parent born in the EU and learning about Europe at school also positively influences the feeling of identification with Europe (Matafora, Ziemes & Abs, 2023).

European identity among European youth is also a matter of exposure to other European countries and cultures. In fact, it tends to emerge more strongly during international experiences or cultural exchanges (Ibid.). This kind of activity allows young people to reflect on their national identity, whereas in the absence of such experiences many teenagers and young adults feel rather ambivalent toward the EU, or at best, they feel a symbolic identification without tangible engagement (Ibid.).

However, this sense of identification is not always synonymous with genuine engagement. Many young people associate the EU with abstract institutions, too distant from their daily lives, especially when their only experience of the world is limited to their own country or when they feel that opportunities to participate in politics are scarce due to lack of information (Lorenz & Anders, 2023a). Identification with the EU can also be more pragmatic than emotional for some teenagers : the benefits of EU membership, such as educational exchanges or economic advantages carry more weight than a deep sense of cultural or civic belonging (Cores-Bilbao, Méndez-García & Fonseca-Mora, 2020).

While a relevant portion of young Europeans identify themselves as part of the EU to some extent, the depth of this identification and their sense of involvement in EU activities may vary widely (Huyst, 2008). Regarding culture, national identity is also a fact to be considered. A unique distinction arises between the way young people identify with their European identity compared with national identity. In Western and Northern European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands or Sweden, many young people share a positive view of the European Union (Wickie et. al., 2019).

They are able to identify EU policies in their own situation through measures like digital rights regulation, climate action and labor mobility. Growing confidence in national and European Union institutions results in a double identity, national and European, marked by limited perceived tension.

The low trust in the EU is compounded by limited access to European Union programs in some areas, especially rural areas, combined with political systems that seem to be unresponsive. Although young people showed strong concern about transnational matters such as climate change and digital freedom, they are often left feeling they are not part of political participation in the European Union (Huyst, 2008). As Newton and Van Deth (2010) argue, national and European identities can coexist, especially when institutions are trusted and responsive. However, in many Eastern European countries (Poland, The Balkans, Greece), low institutional trust makes this coexistence harder to achieve. In order to tackle this issue, the EU must focus on building trust, ensuring fair representation, and demonstrating real impact, insisting on those with a vague sense of belonging or of being relevant in comparison with other member states. Only then can European identity grow into something more than a secondary label and become a shared foundation for future generations.

ONGOING EU EFFORTS TO SOLIDIFY ITS SENSE OF IDENTITY AMONG THE YOUTH

As European Identity among young people is still far from being a solid aspect of their own general sense of identity, there are different programmes targeted at young people first of all to enhance educational and professional opportunities, but also to deepen their emotional and cultural connection to Europe.

For example, the SOCRATES programme in action from 1995 to 2006 funded mobility and exchange within the European Union and between member states and non-member states with the aim, among others, to boost language skills, inter-cultural skills and European identity. The SOCRATES Programme then evolved into the well known Erasmus+ Program, which is the EU Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the 2021-2027 period (erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu. [n.d.]).

In order to expand the sense of the community within Europe, there are, as well, policies such as the European Youth Strategy that have been implemented, which is the European Union’s main policy framework to tackle this issue of identity. Through the three key priorities it established (engage, empower, and connect), it promotes youth participation in democratic life and society and ensures equal opportunities for all young people across Europe (youth.europa.eu. [n.d.]). The participatory process is a central tool of the strategy of the EU Youth Dialogue, one part of the EU Youth Strategy. It is intended to bring various participants at local, national, and EU levels to shape youth focused policies and we can find among them young people, youth organizations, and policymakers (Ibid.).

European Identity is also fostered through events like the Conference on the Future of Europe: youth is given a direct role in reshaping the EU through panels and digital idea-sharing platforms. Another example of similar opportunities, is the EU Youth Week, which is a biennial event celebrating youth participation and showcasing EU-supported youth projects. We can also mention the European Youth Capital title, awarded each year to a city demonstrating exemplary youth engagement and inclusion. Online resources like the European Youth Portal also provide a larger access to various opportunities and current EU youth initiatives, reinforcing the aim of the EU to make public debate more accessible to its younger population.

DIFFICULTIES AND POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGHS

Looking at these facts, building a European identity in the EU is like building something out of Lego with no instructions and missing pieces. People can, however, find their way to participate in democracy by youth consultations, public dialogues, EU elections, and citizen panels. Nevertheless, the topics these address are far away from young peoples’ daily concerns. For most of them, these mechanisms are only symbolic. This disconnect isn’t just because institutions are too complicated or far away; it’s also about identity. The majority of young people still see politics through the lens of their own national identity. Most of them don’t think of “Europe” as a whole when they go about their daily lives but they rather think of their own country, region, or city. This cultural and linguistic fragmentation weakens EU attempts on building a collective shared sense of identity. From the inside, it shows something deeper: a common European identity is still in formation. A lot of young people don’t know what their European identity is, where it starts and where it ends.

In countries where corruption, instability, or disillusionment are common in local politics, people often have more faith in EU institutions than in their own governments. But it is not because people trust the EU that they identify with it or wish to (Wickie et. al, 2019 -Vision on the EU across Europe) take part in it. It is more about what people think is “less bad” rather than what is actually inspiring. In contrast, young people in countries with strong civic education, such as Finland or Germany, are more likely to interact with EU institutions. This indicates that education significantly influences perceptions of the EU.

Research consistently shows that education has a significant impact on attitudes toward the European Union since more education is linked to greater knowledge, trust, and support for integration (Baute et al., 2019; Balestrini, 2012). More educated citizens see more benefits and fewer drawbacks of integration, while less educated citizens are inclined to see the adverse effects. But citizens’ motivations are primarily issue-oriented rather than institution-oriented. Evidence indicates that public opinion is mostly influenced by concrete concerns such as economic performance, migration, and identity more than abstract institutional qualities (Di Mauro, 2021; Vössing, 2021; Moise & Wang, 2025). Trust in EU institutions is therefore not fixed but fluctuates depending on which issues are most salient at a given moment, for example during the Eurozone crisis, refugee debates, or election campaigns. Short of that, education will influence the way citizens perceive the EU, but their reasons lie in seeing tangible benefits from it in their daily lives rather than allegiance to its institutions. Yet this does not mean that a shared European identity is out of reach. One way to frame the challenge is that the EU must build trust and greater relevance in young people’s everyday lives, through the channels of education and participation, in order for them to develop a deeper emotional attachment to the Union.

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