Erasmus+ is the European Union’s (the EU) programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport, which enables international learning mobility. Both the European Commission and academic experts often cite Erasmus+ as a successful example of European integration and as a facilitator of a European identity. This thesis seeks to illuminate the intersection between the theory of European integration, the evaluation of the Erasmus + programme and European identity. This is done with interpretive paradigm. An analysis of the EU’ documents has shown that the term European identity is used in a highly inconsistent way within the EU's bodies. In addition, the meaning of European identity, as initially represented by the Community, has changed markedly since the 1970s. The original meaning reflected the foreign policy aspirations of the Community; later this was replaced with the emphasis of European identity in relation to the nation-state. Research in the field of measuring the impact of the Erasmus+ programme (or international mobility) on the construction of the European identity brings a variety of results. The common problem of such research is the one of methodological nationalism. The effects of the Erasmus+ programme are positive, but difficult to evaluate, as they have changed drastically since the beginning of the programme in 1987. The neoliberal logic behind the free movement of labour is noticeable, especially in the light of boosting international mobility to create a competitive labour market, where one's competencies are all that matters.
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