Narrating Europe

The authors of this volume have analysed a series of speeches on European integration by top politicians from a broad time span (1947–2022), placing each speech in its contemporary historical context while also considering the biographical background of the speaker. The comparative analysis the study conducts shows there is a need to rediscover that the ideal of European integration can be as exciting as other national historical controversies. In the face of rampant Euroscepticism, the historical classification and contextualisation of the role of European integration communication can be a useful tool in explaining and understanding the meaning of European unification and its values. In addition to the first volume, Speeches on Europe II now deals with new case studies in five chapters: I. Creating the First Communities and Departure for New Shores, II. Europe in Times of Recession and New Beginnings, III. Europe in Southern Perspective, IV. The Fall of the Iron Curtain: The Opening of Central and Eastern Europe and V. European Reactions to Multiple Crises: Speeches in Times of Growing Insecurities and the Ukrainian War. With contributions by Beatrice Benocci | Ladislav Cabada | Michelangelo Conoscenti | Deborah Cuccia | Alice Cunha | Jürgen Elvert | Kinga Anna Gajda | Michael Gehler | Maria Eleonora Guasconi | Matthias Häussler | Piers Ludlow | Mara Morini | Lara Piccardo | Francesco Pierini | Daniela Preda | Jan van der Harst | Stefano Vicari | Prof. Šárka Waisová | Andreas Wilkens | Peter Zervakis