Larger conservative parties, mainly the Group of European People’s Parties, have already signaled opposition to Turkey’s membership based on religious and cultural values. The disputes over whether God and Christianity ought to be inserted into the draft of the European constitution can be seen as a strong indicator of this trend. In contrast, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who leads a center-right government, endorsed the inclusion of Turkey, Russia, and Israel in the European Union during his tenure as the rotating EU president during the second half of 2003. This call for a far-reaching enlargement could only spur further discussions of European identity and aggravate the division between “us” and “them.”

The cultural identity agenda could easily spread from the national to the European level. This emerging nationalistic European identity, tied mostly to Christianity and anti-Muslim attitudes, may turn out to be quite different from what European leaders have been advocating, namely a political Europe consisting of European citizens who support the legitimacy of European governance.