Reply To: Citizenship instead of nationality

[Christer Lundquist]

I may have overlooked the nuance in Lars’ words «member states will cease to be nations from that point». I read it (maybe as a citizen being presented with the Constitution for the first time) as the devil’s advocate: That what we perceive as our historical, cultural and political entities called both nations and states would have to cease to exist. Now I see your point, which is valid: «Nations» is not what will make up the federation. States are. Member states.
The era of nationalism should have been over a long time ago, in my opinion. The notion that arose and grew strong in the 1800’s has caused countless problems/wars etc. A federal Europe will eventually result in the fading of nations/nationalism, and its ugly sides, and people get used to thinking of their country as a state.
This is a semantic problem, though, when people will be presented with the concept. From a PR viewpoint.