This paper investigates the discursive construction of European values in the context of the refugee situation in the European Union in 2016. We focus on the recontextualization of European identities in the Czech public media and social media and the references to European values in public discourse. We put emphasis on the legislative framework of the current events and their discursive construction through several discourse topics, including freedom of speech, security threats, and sympathy. The methods combine linguistic approaches, in particular critical discourse analysis, the discourse-historical approach, and doctrinal legal analysis of the legislative framework. Within critical discourse analysis, we focus on referential and predicational as well as argumentation strategies pertinent in the media and policy documents. As part of doctrinal legal analysis, we focus on textual characteristics of European law, including case law, and Czech domestic constitutional and administrative law.
