French presidents and the discursive use of European Sovereignty: more than a metaphor

ABSTRACT Scholars working on sovereignty in the EU have been quick to dismiss the French governments’ European sovereignty discourse as a metaphor. In this article, we situate our argument and methodology within the broader literature on sovereignty conflicts in the EU. We demonstrate that the use of sovereignty regarding European integration has evolved in French Presidents’ discourses throughout the Vth Republic. Far from being an invention of President Macron, the term European sovereignty builds on existing discourses by past French presidents since the Mitterrand years. The term European sovereignty has so far been successful and aligned with a more general tendency towards ‘rebordering’ the EU. Important normative issues however remain. Legitimizing the EU on the basis of security concerns can threaten its liberal and cosmopolitan foundations. Second, redefining sovereignty as a capacity to act rather than a legitimate right to rule may prove to be unsustainable.