After the Euro: National Sovereignty and European Hospitality

Abstract

This paper argues for an original solution of the current political crisis affecting the process of European integration. The underlying idea is that of a double political space: the space of sovereignty and the space of hospitality. While the former is traditionally seen as the political space of the European Nation-States, the latter might be conceived as the political space of a new European Union, where both EU and non-Eu nationals could find their place. This implies that we renounce the category of European citizen and adopt the new political category of European guest instead. Such a solution should be taken into serious consideration if the Eurozone crisis will eventually call into question the European currency union and undermine the project of the “United States of Europe”.