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The study of European identity cannot take its clues from national identity, neither in form nor in substance. I begin with an examination of the general sociological concept of identity in order to uncover its resources for a more complex understanding of European identity. I then ask to what extent Europe really needs a European identity, and on what levels an identity may be found: in the received cultural 'idea' of Europe, in the cultural practices of celebration and ritualization, and in the consciousness if its citizens. In the next section, I present some of the basic descriptive evidence on the individual sense of European identity as routinely surveyed by Eurobarometer. In the final part I sketch some of the current battlegrounds of European identity: its relation to national identity, the challenge posed to it by globalization, and the shifts towards new identity mixes or hybrid identities. I conclude that there is indeed a …