The State of the European Union. The European Parliament faces its most important elections yet

69 European citizenship was a major Spanish con- tribution to the integration project, and is rec- ognized in the EU treaties, which also incorpo- rate the Charter of Fundamental Rights. As a result, the legal system of the EU grants the citizens of Member states a series of rights, in addition to those provided by national constitu- tions, and these rights are protected by the Court of Justice. Moreover, all Member states are represented on the Council of Europe, which provides the framework for the European Court of Human Rights, whose rulings must be re- spected. European citizens therefore represent a huge potential reservoir of support that could be mo- bilized in favour of European unity, but for this potential to be exploited, the unification project itself must be completed, publicized and recog- nized, and must be comprehensive and multi- dimensional. In his famous essay, Le passage a l’Europe (2012), Luuk van Middlelaar argued that there are three ways of gaining people’s support for a national or supra-national political project. The first of these approaches is based on Greek de- mocracy, which grants individuals the right to participate in decisions that affect the political entity in question. A second model draws on the Roman Republic (and subsequently the Empire), which granted its citizens certain material bene- fits (money, allocations of grain or bread, public spectacles) to guarantee their support. The third strategy, which van Middlelaar terms the German approach, consists in appealing to a shared lan- guage or culture, inspired by romanticism, to en- sure the backing of the people. The challenge of European citizenship: freedom, participation, welfare and culture Domènec Miquel Ruiz Devesa* *  This article reflects the opinions of the author, and does not represent the positions of the Spanish Ministry for For- eign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation.