The European identity and diversity in a

globalized world

Tigau Mihaela
 European Union- Key steps

 Starting point: end of the Second War World

 Main actors:
Jean Monnet Robert Schuman
 Key historical points
 1951- Treaty of Paris when the Coal and Steel Community of France, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg was established;
 1957- two important treaties in Rome, establishing European Atomic Energy
Community and European Economic Community
 Starting of the enlargement, namely:
1973- U.K., Denmark, Ireland become part of the Community
1981- Greece joined the Union
1986- Spain and Portugal joined the Union
* 1992: adoption of the Maastricht Treaty which “brought together the foreign
security and interior aspects of cooperation with the European Communities
issues in one treaty”.
* Beginning of the 1990’s: Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the Union
* 1997- Treaty of Amsterdam, amending Treaty on European Union and Treaties
establishing the European Communities-member states agreed to transfer
certain powers from national governments to the European Parliament across
diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal
laws, and enacting foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing
institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU.
* 2001- Treaty of Nice was adopted-member states agreed to
transfer certain powers from national governments to
the European Parliament across diverse areas, including
legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal laws,
and enacting foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as
implementing institutional changes for expansion as new
member nations join the EU.
* 2002- Cyprus and Malta joined the Union
* 2007- Treaty of Lisbon which amended the main treaties of
the Union, namely Treaty of Maastricht and Treaty of
Rome
* 2008- Romania and Bulgaria joined the Union
Elements of European identity
1. Language- It all started when more and more people started to use this language to
communicate each other or to make trade. Moreover, in places where there were a lot of
nationalities English became a good instrument for communication while little by little the old
traditional languages like French or Spanish started to be less and less used. The usage of
English as a mean of communication affected also the economic sector in the way that
important companies now had to establish English as their corporate working language.
Moreover, even within the Union’s institutions the traditional language lose ground as English
became more and more used in the bureaucracy and meetings as it was the case of the
Commission in which French was fast replaced by English due to the new wave of integration
2. Culture- the traditional media, the journalists and the well-known newspapers have
become globally read and the new media also come to be globalized as movies and
shows were imported and exported in different cities of the Union. Furthermore, a
special place was taken by sports, namely because this was the only domain in which
people from the Union had an interest in. Thus, there was a single sport channel called
Eurosport which broadcasted a various range of events from different countries in
various European languages
3. Free Market- promoting of a new kind of economy, with no trade barriers and
freedom of movement of goods and people while new projects were implemented such
as the Eurozone, Schengen area and The Agriculture policy.
European Union in the globalized
world
 1. E.U. as a model for other actors: the Union mostly has promoted since its
foundation, namely the democratic values and the respect for human rights together
with the freedom of conscience and expression. It seems that these basic concepts
haven’t been so proclaimed in any other part of the world while another identity tag
could be the desire to establish a social market economy which hasn’t been promoted
by any other entity. Thus, the European Union, taking into consideration its basic
values, has represented for many others a model in the process of globalization..
Thus, taking the scheme of the European Union, others tried to form such alliances as
it was the case of ASEAN or of the African Union
 2. E.U. as a policy creator: the European Union has the ability to create policy
and also has judicial power. In what the creation of policy is concerned it can be
claimed that European Union has managed to establish such a complex set of rules
which doesn’t only affect the member states but also it affects states around the
Union in order to promote its views at an international level. I think that this could be
the case of one of the most interesting European projects namely the one of the
European Neighborhood Policy. It also had a major involvement when it comes up
about climate change, being a motor in the establishment of the Paris Agreement.
 Challenges for E.U.
 Survey from 2015 about the main problems that E.U. was facing:
25%-> Terrorism 58%-> Immigration
1. Refugees: in the last years more than 1 million people reached
the borders of the continent while the Union’s involvement
has increased in such a way that it was established the
European Agenda for Migration and the Commission is the one
of the institutions that mainly manages the humanitarian
projects on the behalf of the European Union .
->States in which E.U. conducted humanitarian projects: Greece,
Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Libya.
->Main institution involved: Commission
->Main mechanisms : European Civil Protection Mechanism and
Refugee Facility for Turkey
->Money invested: in 2016 €700m were spent on this kind of
activities.
2.Economic problemes:
->the statistics shows that the E.U. will lose some considerable positions as its
economic power will represent less than 20% of the GDP of the world until
2030.This means that more than ever the E.U. has to work as a whole entity in
order to counter the new economies such as China. In addition, in this globalized
world more and more challenges have started to appear and most of them have
significant impact on the course of the European Union. Starting with the
economic crisis from 2008, to the recent terrorist attacks, these events have
destabilized Europe and forced it to take difficult majors. Once being the modeler
of the globalization process, now it has to face its diversity. These issues produced
doubts regarding the main European goals concerning economy and social
development to make people better and better with every generation and to have
a more homogenous economy using the same currency.
Goals:
->Expand the free market
->Homogenous economy-> using the a single currency
->More integration in the Schengen Area
->Decrease the unemployment rate as an outcome of the economic crisis from 2008
->Integrate more the less developed states such as Romania.
 Possible scenarios for the
development of the E.U.

 During the Rome Summit from 2017, the 27 member

states have debated five possible scenarios for the
future of the Union, namely :
 1. Carry on- A continuation of the project “ A new
beginning for Europe” from 2014;
 2. Nothing but the Single Market;
 3.Those who want more, do more;
 4.Doing less more efficiently;
 5.Doing much more together;
Main features of each scenario
1. Main aspects:->economic developments
->combat terrorism by cooperating in research, industry and
technology
-> E.U. will set international agenda in major issues( climate change,
financial stability and development)
2.Main aspects: ->no significant aims in security, research or migration
->difficulties in signing international treaties
-> focus on economic aspects( single market)
3.Main aspects:->establishing of a coalition of the willing
->some states will develop more
->foundation in projects like Eurozone or Schengen area
4.Main aspects:->focus more on some issues than others
->attention for innovation, research, defense, terrorism will remain
a major issue
5. Main aspects:-> put equal efforts in all aspects
->Union will become a single entity
->Union will stay as a whole in international forums, being a motor
in globalization process.