Thisessaywilldiscussthequestionofsocialandeconomicdifferenceswithinthe

EuropeanUnionandEurope.WewillarguethatitisfutiletospeakofEuropeasone
continentwiththesamesocialvaluesandeconomics.SpeakingofEuropeasasingle
entityandemphasisingthenotionofEuropeantrendsisashallowviewofthereality
ofthesocialandeconomicdifferencesontheEuropeancontinent.Thesocietaland
economic differences between states and nations within Europe are much more
complexandrigidthanspeakingofuniformEuropeantrendsandEuropeasasingle
identity.WewilllookfirstlyatthedefinitionofthegeographyinEuropebygivinga
verybriefideaofthegeographicalfrontiersofEuropeinordertoarguehowEuropeis
acontinentthatconsistsofdifferenttrendsandnotidenticalEuropeantrends.Inour
argumentagainsttheideaofaEuropewiththesamevaluesandeconomics,wewill
identifynationswithinEuropeforexampletheFlemishandWalloondividewithinthe
Belgianstate.Butwewillalsolookattheexamplesofothernationswithoutstates
withinEuropeanstatesandtheirnegativeeffectonthenotionofuniformsocialand
economic European trends. The essay will also shine a light on the differences
betweendifferentstatesinEurope.Inourexaminationofdifferentstatesandnations
inEuropewewillattempttoconsolidateourargumentincontradictionofthenotion
ofEuropeantrendsorspeakingaboutasingleEuropeanidentitythatisresembledby
theEU,consolidatedbyexamples.Attheendwewillhighlightbrieflywhatdoes
uniteEuropeansandwhatdividesthem.
Europeinthecontextofgeographyisspreadbeyondtheboundariesofwhatiscalled
theEUorTheEuropeanUnionasitiscommonlyidentifiedasjustEurope.Europeas
ageographicalentityisunderstoodtoconsistofthewesternpartofEurasia,witha
numberofislandsnotfarfromtheEuropeanmainland.TheboundaryofEuropehas
been regarded tofinishor start with the Ural Mountains in Russia, although this
notionofthegeographicboundaryofEuropeischallenged.FollowingtheendofThe
SovietUniontherelationbetweennewlyindependentstatesofArmenia,Azerbaijan
andGeorgiatoEuropeisinofanunsurerelation(GuibernauiBerdun,2007).This

demonstratesthattheboundariesoftheEuropeancontinentarenotfixedandthatthe
boundariesofEuropeareshiftingandarecontested.
InourargumentofEuropeasacontinentwithmanydifferenttrendswecanseethat
even within the states of Europe there are distinct cultural, social, economic and
linguisticdifferencesthataremostlyfuelledbydifferentnationswithinthesedifferent
statesinEurope.ThenationswithoutstatesinEuropeareahinderingtotheideaof
Europeasasingleidentity.Thatisbecauseoftheriseofnationalistsentimentsin
thesenationswithinEuropeanstatesinordertoberecognisedasdifferentstatesorto
gainmorepowerfromthecentre.WewilllookattheFlemishandWalloonproblem
inBelgiuminordertodemonstrateanexampleofnationswithinstatesandtoshinea
light on the different trends within Europe. In Belgium the development of two
differentidentitiesisrooteddeeplywithinthedifferenceinlanguagebetweenthe
Dutch speaking Flemings and French speaking Walloons. The development ofa
monolingualsocietiesinBelgiumisaconsequenceofhistoricalFrenchdominationof
publiclifeinBelgium, followingthelanguagelegislationFlanders haveofficially
becameamonolingualDutchspeakingcommunity (Billiet,MaddensandFrognier,
2006). The consequence of that had led to the isolation of linguistic groups in
Belgium in their respective communities. The isolation and differences of these
communitieswithinBelgiumisevidentinthemediawereeverycommunityhasit
own newspapers and their own monolingual stations, VRT for the Flemish
community,RTBFfortheFrenchCommunityandBRFfortheGermancommunity
whilealsobusinessrelatedradioandtelevisionaremonolingualwithonlyviewers
fromtherespectivecommunity.ThepolarisationofFlandersandWalloniaisevident
alsointheemergenceoftwodifferentpartysystemsinBelgiumoneFlemishandthe
other Francophone, that leads to the idea of the dismantling of central power in
Belgium,andathreattothefutureexistenceoftheBelgianstate (Billiet,Maddens
and Frognier, 2006). Regarding immigration, Economically speaking In Wallonia
were the economic problems are the most problematic, people feel that they are
threatenedintermsofsocialprovisionsofwealth.WhileinFlandersitisevidentthat
Flemings are more threatened in their identity than economically, that is because
Flemings are better off in terms of economics than their southern less well off

neighbours(Billiet,MaddensandFrognier,2006).
TheBelgiansituationwithinthecontextofEuropeisaclearexamplethatEuropeis
notasingleidentitybutamosaicofidentities.Thiswouldleadustoassertourpoint
ofviewthatitisdifficulttospeakofEuropeanTrendsortodefineEuropewitha
single European identity that within the single European identity every European
would share the same values and customs. The hurdle of disintegration that the
BelgianstateisthreatenedsincethelongprocessofthefederalisationoftheBelgian
state(Billiet,MaddensandFrognier,2006),thatdemonstratesevenwithinrespective
Europeanstatestherearedifferentsocialandeconomicsituations.Thedifferences
betweenthelinguistic,culturalandeconomicconditionsbetweentheFlemishandthe
WalloonsareacrystalclearinsightthatitisdifficulttospeakofEuropeantrends.We
canseethatevenwithinthesameEuropeanstatetherearedifferenttrendsthatinclude
differentsocialandeconomiccircumstancesasinthecaseofBelgiumandsomeother
casesofdifferentEuropeanstatesthatwewillhighlightintheupcomingparagraphs.
InourunravellingofhowEuropeisacontinentwithmanydifferenttrendsweshould
lookatSpainasastatethatconsistofdifferentnations.ThenationsofCataloniaand
theBasquecountryhavetheirowndistinctlanguagesandidentitywithintheSpanish
state(Castro,2013).ItisalsocrucialtoconsiderthatbothCataloniaandtheBasque
countryarebetteroffeconomicallythanotherpartsofSpain.Itisevidentthatthe
Catalansdonotsharethesamecultureandnationalidentitywiththeotherregionsin
Spain.TheCatalannationtensionswiththecentreinrelationtotheCatalanwillof
selfdeterminationdrawsthepictureofaconflictingrelationbetweenthedifferent
autonomous regions within the Spanish state. The supporters of a independent
CataloniaalsotakeaviewthatCataloniawouldbebetteroffeconomicallyifitwas
independent than part of Spain were wealth gets distributed from richer north to
poorerregionsinthecountrybythecentralgovernmentinMadrid(Castro,2013).
Thelatterdemonstratesthatdiverseculturalandeconomictrendsdoexistwithinthe
sameEuropeanstates,whichcanbringustotalkaboutdifferenttrendswithinthe
Spanishstate.Theargumentofdifferenttrendsinasinglestatemakesclearthatthe
imageofawiderEuropeismuchmorecomplexthanspeakingofuniformEuropean

trends.TheBasquecountryinSpaincanalsobecomparedtoCataloniaasaregion
withdifferentlanguage,cultureandiseconomicallybetterthanthesouthernregions
ofSpain.InthecaseoftheBasquewecanidentifythattherewasandastillexisting
complexsituationbetweentheSpanishstateandtheBasquecountry.Anexampleof
thetenserelationregardingBasquenationalismanditsrelationwiththeSpanishstate
istheexampleoftheETAthathadledanarmedstruggleagainstSpaininorderof
recognition of independence from Spain, until recent when ETA announced a
permanentceasefirein2006(Lecours,2007).
WecanexaminethatEuropeisamulticulturalandmultinationalcontinentwith
manydifferentnationstatesthathavetheirownsocialandeconomiccircumstances,
that speaking about a single Europe is futile in regard to the different political,
culturalandeconomicordersthathavedominatedandstilldominatingEurope.Parts
oftheformerSovietUnionhaveindeedbeenincludedinthegeographiccontextof
Europe.EventhoughtheSovietUnionhaveceasedtoexistthelegacyofthelong
sovietruleinpolitics,societyandeconomicsstillexistwithinitisformerrepublics.
Anexampleis Belaruswerethepolitical,socialandeconomicrealtiesareunlike
countriesintheWesternpartofthecontinent.Thatcanbedefinedinthedifferent
politicalstructure,economicrealityandtheculturallyandsociallydistinctnationof
Belarus.(White,KorostelevaandLwenhardt,2005).Belarushasenduredadifferent
historytothatofmanyotherEuropeanstates.Thedifferencesinpolitics,societyand
economicscanbeattributedtothedifferenthistoriesthatcountriesofthecontinent
haveenduredwecanassumethattheSovietdominatedrecenthistoryofBelarusgives
an idea of the distinct values in Belarusian society and the different economic
situationthathasemergedafterthecollapseoftheSovietUnion.Wecanconcludeby
theexampleoftheformerSovietRepublicthatEuropeconsistsofdifferentidentities
andtrendsanditismeaninglesstotalkaboutEuropeantrendsbutaboutdifferent
trendswithintheEuropeancontinent.
The notion of the European Union has brought the idea of European trends and
Europeasasingleidentitytobemoreapplicable.Inthisparagraphwewillconsider
thatthesocialandeconomicdifferencebetweenEUmembersdoexist.Firstlyitis

importanttomentionthatthenotionoftheEUasresemblingEuropeanIdentityis
misleading that can be justified in the idea that not all European countries are
membersoftheEU.WecanassumethataEuropeanidentityisactuallyEuropean
identities.BecauseevenwithintheEU,whichviewsthatit,institutionsresemblea
EuropeanidentityshouldbecontestedthatisbecauseEuropeandtheEUwithinitare
multinational with different social and economic circumstances (Checkel and
Katzenstein,2009). WecanconsolidateourargumentontheEUbyrelatingtothe
examplesoftheWalloonandFlemingswithintheBelgianstate,whichisamember
state of the EU. We can view that even within EU member state the problems
regardingidentityexist.Itisevidentthatdifferentsocialandeconomiccircumstances
within different EU member states would not only hinder the notion of a single
European identity but it will also cause a threat to the national identity of the
respectivestateasthecasewithBelgium.Aswehavementionedaboveitisalso
apparentinSpainwerethereareregionswithinSpainlikeCataloniaandtheBasque
countryweretheviewisholdthattheyholddifferentidentitybothhavingdissimilar
culturalandlinguisticsthanthatresembledbytheSpanishstate.Thepositionofboth
CataloniaandtheBasquecountryisstrengthenedbytheireconomicsuperiorityin
relationtootherpartsofSpain.Thisleadustoconsolidateourargumentagainsta
EuropeanidentitythatisformedandnurturedbytheEU,wecanseethatevenwithin
theEU memberstates likeBelgiumandSpaintheirexistproblems inrelationto
identitiesinthesamestates,thatsmakeobviousthattheideaofEuropeantrendsare
notresemblingtostatesthatarepartoftheEUandEuropeinawidersense.Wecan
concludewiththeideathatEuropeantrendsisvaguebecauseoftheunlikeofsocial
andeconomictrendsinrelationtoEUmemberstatesbutalsoinrelationtoother
Europeancountries.
Before concluding the essay it is reasonable to consider what unites and divide
Europeans. It is evident that Religion also plays the role of a dividing factor in
Europe.AlthoughtheauthorityofReligionisdwindlinginEurope,theinfluenceofit
shouldnotbeunderstatedthatisbecausereligiontraditionallyhasbeenadividing
factorinEuropeparticularlysincethedivisionintoanEasternorthodoxyChristianity
andWesternEuropeanChristianityhasplayedaroleindividingWesternandEastern

Europe,ButalsothedivisionbetweenCatholicismandProtestantismintheWestern
branchofChristianityinEurope(GuibernauiBerdun,2007).Alsoitisimportantto
considerSocioeconomicasadividingfactorinEurope,thetraditionaldivisionof
wealthynorthandpoorersouth.ButthisnotioniscontestedbystateslikeItaly.Italy
ishasbecomeoneoftherichestintheWorldSomeothernotionsthatdivideEurope
arealsocultureandclass,genderandfamilyandnationalandethnicdiversityaswe
havementionedinthesubsequentparagraphs.ThefactorsthatuniteEuropearethose
memoriesofwar,theendofEuropeanEmpires,Europeanpoliticalcultureandthe
riseofnewsocialmovementsorNGOs(GuibernauiBerdun,2007).Wecanidentify
that the division in relation to Religion, national and ethnic diversity and socio
economicfactorsEuropedoalsoformahurdletotheEuropeanidentity.
IntheessaywehaveattempttodemonstratehowEuropeisacontinentofdiversity
andwealsodemonstratebydifferentexampleshowitisnotpossibletospeakof
European trends or the idea of Europe without recognising that Europe contains
different social and economic trends that making sense of European trends is
misleading.Firstlywehaveexplainedthedifferentlinguistic,social,politicaland
economicfactorsinBelgiumconsideringthedifferentidentitieswithintheBelgian
stateandthethreatthatcausestotheunityofBelgium.Theessayhashighlightedthe
CatalanandBasqueprobleminrelationtotheSpanishstate.Wehavedemonstrated
by the example of Belgium and Spain that social and economic differences also
persistwithinthesamestate.TheessayhasalsohighlighthowtheEuropeanidentity
ismisleadingbecausetherearemanysocialandeconomicdifferencewithinthestates
oftheEUandEurope.WehavehighlightedBelarusasastatewithdifferentsocial
and economic situations consolidated by its different history from other western
Europeancountriesinparticular.TheessayhasalsoshinealightonhowtheEUis
viewed as resembling European identity. We have challenged this notion because
even within the European union there exist different social and economic
circumstancesthatisconsolidatedbytheexamplesofBelgiumandSpain,bothof
thesestatesaremembersoftheEU.Wehavealsoconsideredwhatdoesuniteand
divideEuropeans.InsummationtheessayconsiderstheideaofEuropeantrendsand

asingleEuropeanidentityisfutile.WecanspeakofdifferentEuropeanidentitiesand
trendsbutnotofaEuropeanidentityandtrends.