Heritage makes me feel…European! The cultural-social impact of European cultural heritage policy on its citizens

Over the years, the European Union has promoted a series of cultural policies to pursue several objectives, either social, societal, cultural, or economic. In particular, the implementation of cultural policies such as the European Heritage Label (EHL) has been done with the explicit intent to foster what can be defined as a Pan-European, supra-national identity, especially among young generations. This thesis wants to discover whether these types of policies have been truly effective in reaching the afore-mentioned goal. In particular, it aims to state whether the European Heritage Label has influenced citizens’ European cultural identity. To do this, a mixed method has been chosen. Visitors from all 48 EHL sites have completed an online survey and a series of interviews have been carried out with national coordinators and referents of the EHL sites. The results demonstrate that the EHL initiative positively influences citizens’ sense of belonging to Europe. Furthermore, important policy implications, such as the need for better coordination at the European level, have been outlined.