”Vi i EU” eller ”vi och EU”? : En tematisk analys av svensk politisk retorik som skapare och upprätthållare av en europeisk identitet.

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how Swedish politicians rhetoricly construct the European Union in parliamentary debates, and how these constructions may contribute to understanding Sweden’s unusually low level of civic European identity. While Sweden displays a high cultural European identity, its civic European identity remains comparatively weak, making the country an outlier in European identity research. Drawing on two parliamentary debates: the EU Party Leaders’ Debate (2024) and the debate on the Government’s Report on EU Activities in 2024 (2025), the study applies a qualitative thematic text analysis to identify recurring rhetorical patterns. The theoretical framework combines Risse’s concepts of nested identities and the marble‑cake model with research on political rhetoric as a mechanism shaping public opinion and identity formation. The analysis shows that Swedish politicians frequently frame the EU as an external or even obstructive actor, for example through formulations that separate “Sweden” from “the EU”. Such framings reinforce a hierarchical identity structure in which the national level appears primary. At the same time, instances of integrated identity constructions, where Sweden and the EU are presented as mutually dependent, also emerge. A further pattern is the strategic use of “Europe” instead of “EU”, which activates cultural rather than civic identity. The study concludes that political rhetoric often reproduces a sense of distance between Sweden and the EU, which may help explain the persistently low civic European identity. The findings highlight the importance of elite communication in shaping public perceptions of European belonging.