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The problem is that the EU countries have a long history of fighting against each other and their cultural differences are too big to keep them together. There
by namaemuta 10y ago
The problem is that the EU countries have a long history of fighting against each other and their cultural differences are too big to keep them together. There isn't the sentimental feeling of America in the EU, people don't feel themselves as European and since the current situation in EU is bad, the feeling of being independent has grown a lot.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- smarinov 10y agoI beg to differ. The more people from any single European country travel across Europe, the more they figure out that there are almost zero cultural differences between their countries. Things that people used to call 'typically French/German/Italian/Spanish/Slovak/Greek' are increasingly seen as typically European. I can't back this statistically, but virtually all the people I met in my life who have lived in at least two EU countries think this way. I honestly can't think of a single person who I've known and thinks otherwise and I should know because this topic almost always comes in discussions when you get to know somebody. Of course, there are some minor cultural differences, but these are not particularly larger than the ones found in the US, India, China, Brazil, or the Russian Federation for that matter.
- namaemuta 10y agoWell, I'm living abroad and in my experience I can tell you that there are remarkable cultural differences, specially related to working habits.
- bjelkeman-again 10y agoThere are differences, but the similarities are bigger IMHO. I say this with the experience of having lived extensively in the UK, US, Sweden, work in the NL, and travelled to 40 countries on all continents. The difference in culture between the UK and other Northern European countries is often exagurated. Many say that the UK is more like the US. In my experience this really isn't true.
- wtbob 10y ago> The more people from any single European country travel across Europe, the more they figure out that there are almost zero cultural differences between their countries. Have you actually travelled in Europe? Germany is radically different from France; both are radically different from the UK, and let's not even start to talk about Eastern Europe.
- barrkel 10y agoGermany, France and the UK are very very similar compared to the US, North Africa, and the further reaches of the Union (e.g. Bulgaria). Asia might as well be on a different planet. The degree of deference to authority, the specifics of the rules of the road, the level of interference of governance - these things vary, but they're within a spectrum. Things go off the wall different outside Europe.
- wtbob 10y agoCompared to the U.S., things go off the wall in Europe, and — as you say — Asia is just another planet entirely.
- continuational 10y agoYou can feel European and (as in my case) Danish at the same time, and I do. It's not mutually exclusive. I think the problem with EU is primarily one of communication. The member states should do more to inform the public of what is going on in the EU, and EU should do more to avoid negotiations behind closed doors (because how can you ever trust a process like that?).
- namaemuta 10y ago> You can feel European and (as in my case) Danish at the same time, and I do. It's not mutually exclusive. No, it's not mutually exclusive but the order matters. IMO American first see themselves as American while here a French guy will see him as French and then maybe European. That's the sentiment I'm referring to.
- zero_intp 10y agoAs a federalist of egalitarian persuasion born south of the Mason-Dixon, I assure you that I am Northerner before I am 'Murican.