The Overseas Regions and the European Union: Historical Background, Rationale and Dynamics within the Scope of the Institutional Conception of European Identity

European identity is the first condition for a State to be considered eligible to EU membership. Indeed, Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union, which regulates the application process for EU membership, enshrines that a State must be ‘European’, without specifying the meaning(s) attached to such a qualifier. Various interpretations were provided by the EU institutions in the course of enlargements and membership requests. One of these interpretations is illustrated by the integration, or full assimilation, of some overseas regions into the EU because they have retained ties with one of the EU Member States. Despite their remoted geographical position, these regions were indeed integrated – and not merely associated – in the same capacity as the metropolitan regions, which means that the general provisions of the Treaties apply to these overseas regions. In spite of the fact that this specific option has existed since the Treaty of Rome, different legal provisions for integration have applied to these regions, depending on their status within and ties with the motherland. This poster will provide an overview of the history of the integration of overseas regions into the EEC/EU, as well as the rationale and the dynamics (financial, geopolitical, ‘colonial’, …) behind this process, by relying on a few illustrative cases, such as the French overseas regions (Guadeloupe, Mayotte, Réunion …) and the former integrated Algeria and Greenland. The poster will also display the respective legal integration framework of these cases and the possibility to change their integration/association status enabled by Article 227 TFEU. By presenting the various aspects surrounding the relationship between the overseas regions and the European Union, the poster intends to highlight the historical (colonial) interpretation of European identity and how these regions have eventually become part of the institutional conception of European identity.