The Politics of Solidarity: Contesting Europe’s Development Narrative

In a global environment where competing geopolitical priorities marginalise development policies, this field remains crucial for projecting identity and influence. Within the European Union (EU), various discourse directions of development cooperation reveal deeper tensions about Europe's global role. Using a constructivist lens, this paper demonstrates how Central European donors construct and contest narratives of solidarity within the European development field. Building on the author's upcoming publication on their emerging "donor identity", the paper analyses how Central Europe reproduces core EU framings of democracy promotion, human rights, and normative responsibility, while simultaneously promoting alternative solidarity narratives rooted in the democratic transition experience, regional proximity, and non-colonial legitimacy. The findings reveal patterns of subtle norm contestation: Central European donors formally adopt EU expectations yet selectively resist or reinterpret them, illustrating dynamics of "negative Europeanisation" that reshape how solidarity is articulated internally. These differences are especially evident in today's landscape of overlapping crises, which intensify demands for EU unity while highlighting the varied views of Member States on responsibility and external engagement. These emerging narratives should not be dismissed as mere non-compliance; instead, they challenge and prompt a re-evaluation of traditionally Western-led external priorities. The paper argues that development cooperation represents an overlooked site in which the EU's international solidarity is negotiated, contested, and fragmented. Examining these competing perspectives highlights development cooperation as an area of complex internal differentiation within EU external policies. By examining how these countries subtly adjust an established framework, this paper challenges the prevailing assumptions of uniformity among European donors. It brings attention to the emerging internal distinctions within EU development cooperation.