Divided Memories: Colonial Aphasia and the Absence of Transnational Memory Policy at the European Parliament.

Abstract

The European Parliament, as the only fully democratically elected of the EU institutions, has become one of the most relevant memory actors in the continent. However, while it has made efforts to promote the remembrance of the Holocaust, World War II and Soviet communism, it has yet to address Europe’s colonial past in its memory policies. This thesis addresses the reasons for the lack of such policy by asking the question, how does the discourse about historical colonialism at the EP explain the (lack of) development and diffusion of narratives and policy for the remembrance of European colonialism and imperialism? To do so, it will analyse relevant debates at the EP using mixed methods from 1996 to 2024. The thesis will then argue that European parliamentarians talk about historical colonialism in a variety of contexts, from the economic development of former colonies to the return of cultural artefacts, but the narratives of its dark past are fragmented. Though some of the mechanisms necessary for the development of narratives of atonement and reparations are present, they remain ineffective due to colonial aphasia and redirection. As a result, there is a lack of cohesion in perspective and, by extension, memory policy.