Without being a state, but having to act like one especially towards its borderlands, there arises a new attractiveness of liberal imperialism in the EU (Robert Cooper). Ian Manner''s "Normative Power Europe" (2002/2005/2008) which develops the narrative of a civilian power has an ambivalent record in this respect (Thomas Diez). Barroso’s “non-imperial empire” seems to be the highly problematic combination of both. While Barroso’s “non-imperial empire” seems to be problematic, Jan Zielonka medieval empire (2007) avoids issues of domination and concentrates on understanding the new formation of overlapping spheres. Based on the work of Federica Bicchi (2006/2010) this paper discusses these approaches of liberal imperialism in relation to its Mediterranean South and identifies a secular underpinning as one of the main problems of liberal imperialism. The Muslim-Christian tension, which is constitutive for a convincing narrative in this region, is superficially avoided but brought back in as a "secular crusade", highlighted in the support of the secular regimes under pressure by popular protest to avoid an "Islamic" counterpart. As an alternative this paper argues from a post-secular perspective (Jürgen Habermas) for addressing issues of religion directly and for using religious semantics to constitute a common meaning. For example, the idea of pilgrimage which is common to Christians, Muslims and Seculars alike can help to constitute a narrative of an enlarging and deepening European Union with open borders.
