The European Union is one of the most ambitious political experiments in history. Over decades, it has taken on authority in areas once considered the exclusive domain of nation-states. Yet an important question has emerged along the way: as the EU has grown more powerful, have most Europeans grown more European? The growing success of far-right and Euroskeptic political parties suggests that many people still identify themselves as a member of their nation first, and European second, if at all. However, do we also see an increase in European identity? Is there really such a gap between national and European identtiy? And does it matter?

EUDENTIFY investigates these questions. We believe the relationship between EU institutions and European identity runs in both directions.  That is, institutions can foster a sense of shared belonging, but they can also trigger backlash and harden national identities. Which happens and when it hapens is what we're trying to understand.

To do this, we built EUID dataset. It is the first comprehensive measure of European identity over time, 51 years of data, and more than 3 million respondents across 28 countries. This long view lets us ask questions that were simply out of reach before: Does European identity rise during crises? Does expanding EU authority bring people closer together or push them apart? At a time when European integration faces real headwinds, these are not just academic questions.