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
* 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.