This research aims at evaluating European integration through the daily lives of its citizens. The goals are to assess the association between the engagement in an intra‑European intimate bi‑national relationship and the European identity and to find which dimensions of conjugal life, as well as family relationships, are associated with a sense of a European collective belonging. The analysis focus on the transactional theory of Karl Deutsch. Thus, the increase in transnational interactions promotes the embodiment of common values, which will be reflected in a sense of collective belonging. Through the life course perspective, 36 individuals, with higher education and engaged in an intra‑European bi‑national intimate relationship, were interviewed. The analysis links the profile of the respondents to the structural space of European identity, and bears on the concept of capital in its several forms. The findings validate the particularity of these individuals, and couples, as they’ve experienced significant transnational interactions, and exhibit a reflexive capacity linked to theirs’ embodied cultural capital. Both directions of intergenerational relationships are major criteria to consider Europe as a preferred living space, and the spouses’ transnational social networks may contribute to a sense of belonging. The bi‑national intimacy, or living abroad, can lead the individual to a connection to Europe or to the partners’ country. As a result, a typology of these individuals is proposed, bearing in mind six dimensions: self‑categorization, representations of Europe, transnational interactions course, the direction of the effect of the intra-European intimate relationship, nationality and country of residence.

Professora Maria dos Dores Guerreiro, ISCTE-IUL (orientadora) Professor António Firmino da Costa, ISCTE-IUL (coorientador)

Europe,European identity,Intraeuropean binational relationship,binational couples,transnational interaction,sense of belonging,capital