François Foret’s book is a timely and thought-provoking intervention in the long-running debate on how the European Union seeks to legitimate itself. For decades, scholars have puzzled over the EU’s legitimacy problem, often approaching it through the lenses of institutional design, the so-called democratic deficit, or output performance. More recently, however, attention has shifted towards discourse and storytelling: to the ways in which Europe narrates itself. Foret positions his book firmly within this conversation, engaging with figures such as Van Middelaar, Risse, Manners, and Murray, while carving out his own distinctive approach.

The central argument is that Europe increasingly turns to master narratives – above all ‘Europe of rights’, ‘Europe of values’, and the ‘European way of life’ – to sustain its legitimacy. These narratives, Foret suggests, are not simply rhetoric, nor are they benign myths. They function as acts of ‘sacralisation’, elevating political principles to the level of the unquestionable, seeking to invest them with a kind of quasi-religious authority. Yet, as he carefully demonstrates, these very narratives also generate contestation. By drawing boundaries of belonging, they simultaneously include and exclude, forging unity while provoking dissent.

This theoretical move is the book’s most original contribution. Where Van Middelaar in The Passage to Europe stresses the ‘event’ of politics and the performative moments through which Europe comes alive, Foret is more concerned with the symbolic weight and afterlife of narratives themselves. Similarly, while Risse and others have explored European identity in terms of socialisation and communicative action, Foret shifts the focus to the sacralising force of discourse that claims to be beyond politics. The notion of sacralisation complements and at points challenges categories such as securitisation and polarisation. Where those emphasise fear or conflict, sacralisation captures the EU’s tendency to present certain values or rights as absolute. It is a fruitful conceptual tool, one that can travel beyond European studies into political sociology more broadly.

The book is structured as follows: An introductory chapter sets the scene, situating the study within the narrative turn in EU research and outlining its scope. A second chapter develops the theoretical framework of sacralisation. The following three chapters then examine, in turn, the ‘Europe of rights’, the ‘Europe of values’, and the ‘European way of life’, each tracing the genealogy, activation, and reception of these narratives in public and political life. The conclusion steps back to place these findings in the wider context of a Europe mired in polycrisis – from the eurozone to migration, Brexit, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine.

Methodologically, the book combines discourse analysis of official documents, political speeches, and media debates with empirical material, including a 2020 survey across eight member states. The range of sources is impressive and allows Foret to move confidently between theory, elite rhetoric, and public opinion. The analysis is strongest on elite discourse; grassroots or bottom-up narratives receive less attention, though the inclusion of survey data goes some way to balancing this.

The book’s significance lies in its synthesis of theoretical innovation and empirical richness. It demonstrates convincingly that the EU cannot be understood as a mere regulatory regime or technocratic machine. It is also a symbolic project, dependent on stories that sacralise rights, values, and ways of life. Yet, as Foret shows, these very stories are fragile: they overlap, conflict, and sometimes cancel each other out. In this sense, the EU’s narrative strategy risks being self-defeating, producing new cleavages in the act of seeking legitimacy. In contrast to Manners’ celebrated notion of the EU as ‘normative power’, projecting a coherent set of values abroad, Foret emphasises the internal fragmentation of value-claims within Europe itself.

There is, however, a further critical point to consider, one implicit in Foret’s analysis but worth drawing out. Even if the EU succeeds in crafting persuasive narratives, it may still fail to convert them into the foundation of a genuinely supranational political entity. External circumstances – geopolitical instability, the enduring strength of national attachments, the rise of populism, and the sheer diversity of Europe’s societies – make it exceedingly difficult for such narratives to crystallise into shared political authority. Sacralisation may invest rights or values with symbolic power, but it cannot, on its own, resolve the structural and material obstacles to deeper integration. This does not undermine the value of Foret’s analysis, but it does suggest that narratives, while necessary, are unlikely to be sufficient.

For all that, this is a deeply rewarding book. It is theoretically ambitious, empirically grounded, and intellectually stimulating. It will be of most value to scholars of European integration, political sociology, and discourse studies, though advanced students will also find it a clear entry point into the debates on EU legitimacy. Policymakers may bridle at its critical edge, but the argument deserves their attention as well.

In sum, The European Union in Search of Narratives is an important addition to the literature, advancing the field conceptually while anchoring its claims in careful empirical work. Even for those sceptical of the EU’s narrative strategies, Foret provides a framework for understanding how and why they matter – and why they may not be enough. It is a book that deserves to be widely read, debated, and taught.