‘Being in Europe' and ‘Being a European' are two different things. It is fair to say that over the years a common space has been created in the economic, legal, and to a certain extent in political spheres. However, when we come to other realities (language, culture, religion, memories, values and practices etc) the people of the EU are keen on maintaining their national allegiances. What the EU lacks is a common culture around which Europeans can unite? Such cultural elements, which unite the existing national identities (such as shared language, history, memory, religion) tend to divide rather than unite fellow Europeans. The problem recalls Massima d'Azeglio's comment following the Italian unification in 1870: ‘we have made Italy: now we must make Italians'. Despite the massive transfer of regulatory and decision-making powers from the nation-states to the European Union, there has been no corresponding shift in popular sentiment or political loyalty. Yet, agents have tried to engender popular consciousness.”
[...] A case of failure: The European Social dimension and its deficit in coverage The Commission fails in this mission because the program only covered a specific category of people and thus undermined the widespread feeling of European consciousness. The European Social dimension is open to a debate between the citizenship versus workers' right debate. In the EEC Treaty, economic objectives have been accompanied by an emphasis on workers rather than citizenship rights. If social policy is, by definition, universally applicable, redistributive and focusing workers. [...]
[...] Conclusion: Dominique Wolton and Victor Perez-Diaz have pointed out that there are a number of major differences between the national public space and the proposed European one: - It is a fact that public spaces have developed over a long period of time. The EU is not only young, but it has hitherto had mainly an economic basis. - National public spaces were created within rigid state borders. The way in which the EU is evolving seems to prefigure a vast space ‘from the Atlantic to the Urals'. [...]
[...] They thought that the popular European consciousness will stem automatically from the different measures taken by the European Union institutions. Elite-driven: Pascal Lamy: Jacques Delors's chef de cabinet: the people weren't ready to agree to integration, so you had to get on without telling them too much about what was happening'. Dirigiste approach. II. The illustration of the relative weakness of European consciousness The result of Euro barometer 60: The percentage of citizens attached to Europe remains relatively low compared to the attachment indicators with respect to other levels To illustrate this imperfect process, we can use the results of the last euro barometer measurement (autumn 2003, published this month). [...]
[...] There were more than 8000 Towns twinned between France and Germany - Increased exchanges at all levels (educational, cultural and so on) - Development of common European symbols, community of values; community of life - Encouraging cultural tourism - Sport - Marriage across European nations - Interest groups We can stress on the Euro barometer: created in 1973 by the Community Euro barometer and Euro stat are not just powerful political instruments for creating a more governable European population and European space but also powerful molders of consciousness that furnish the Meta classifications within which identities and subjectivities were formed. [...]
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