Union, OK, but what about the Europeans? The Dutch narrative of the history of continental integration

Though not especially numerous, the university textbooks on the history of European integration published in Dutch since 1979 that we will discuss in the following pages provide a clear picture of the perspectives and approaches with which the birth and development of the EEC/EU is viewed in the Netherlands. This will enable us to form a fairly accurate idea of the priorities that Dutch historians writing in nederlandse taal—the Dutch language—assign in their narrative of the common European journey. It is a narrative that explores a range of themes: the origins and deep roots of continental unification; the protagonists of the integration process and the episodes that punctuated it, whether celebrated or lesser-known; the ideas and experiments that laid the theoretical groundwork and served as the mould for today’s Union. At the same time, it is a narrative that maintains a sharp focus on the hot topics in the Dutch political and institutional debate over the EU, as well as over the ties linking Europe and the Netherlands in terms of interests and ambitions, and even their shared values, history and cultural heritage. The textbook authors’ stated goal is to provide Dutch citizens with a better understanding of “Europe” and thus broaden a historical and political debate that still invites insufficient attention in the Netherlands, where correct information is viewed in many quarters as necessary if European politics are to gain further legitimacy, as a means of overcoming the many divisions—chiefly cultural—that still exist in the EU, and as a prerequisite for a solid democratic dimension for Europe, or in other words a continental demos and a vibrant common identity.