Concerned about a lack of legitimacy, European Union (EU) institutions have increasingly engaged in memory politics to enhance European identity. Yet, memory of the EU is still closely connected to the collective identity formation of nation-states, especially in the field of education, the focus of this study. Inspired by this dilemma, the present paper examines the representations of European unification in textbooks of six countries: Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Hungary, and Estonia. By focusing on countries on the margins of Europe, the present study explores shared and diverse narratives of the European unification process and asks whether or not a shared historical charter of European unification exists. All together 86 history textbooks used in upper secondary school were analysed by adopting a three-step multi-method approach. The results suggest that the representation of European unification is more diverse than it is homogenous. It can be narrated as a political value community or as a community based on utilitarian interests, or it can be represented from a unified European or from a more national perspective. Exploring representations of European unification is crucial to understanding how they can be used as legitimizing charters to navigate through the European challenges of the 21st century.

中文翻译：

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作为活生生的记忆的欧洲统一：六国教科书中的共享和多样化表述

由于担心缺乏合法性，欧盟 (EU) 机构越来越多地参与记忆政治以增强欧洲身份。然而，对欧盟的记忆仍然与民族国家的集体认同形成密切相关，特别是在教育领域，这是本研究的重点。受这一困境的启发，本文考察了爱尔兰、西班牙、葡萄牙、芬兰、匈牙利和爱沙尼亚六国教科书中对欧洲统一的表述。通过关注欧洲边缘的国家，本研究探讨了欧洲统一进程的共同和不同的叙述，并询问是否存在欧洲统一的共同历史宪章。采用三步法多方法分析了86本高中历史教材。结果表明，欧洲统一的表现形式多于单一性。它可以被叙述为一个政治价值共同体或一个基于功利利益的共同体，也可以从一个统一的欧洲或更民族的角度来表述。探索欧洲统一的表征对于理解如何将它们用作合法化宪章以应对 21 世纪的欧洲挑战至关重要。