Is the European Union a myth or reality?

02-Oktober-2013
The European Union is a Union that consists of twenty-eight countries. In 1952 the
European Union was founded by six countries. It was named the European Coal and
Steel Community. In 1957, the six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, which led to
the European Economic Community. In 1993, when more countries joined the
European Economic Community, the Treaty of Maastricht was signed. The Treaty of
Maastricht led to the European Union as how it is today. In 2001, the Euro was
introduced as a global currency for all the members who were willing the change own
currency1. But is the European Union a myth or reality? This essay will list out why
the European Union is a myth.
First of all citizens are more nations bonded more likely than feeling as a European
citizen. According to Eurobarometer 91% of Europeans feel attached to their nations
and only 49% to the European Union. European citizens feel that the European
Union is a treat to their national sovereignty and identity and believe that their own
identity may disappear. Also European citizens voted against a general European
constitution which is seen as they do not want to lose their own national identity2.
Second of all the European countries are mixed with different cultures. The European
Union has 33 different races3. Every race has its own beliefs, traditions and religion,
manners (Garvin, in Caplan and Feffer, 1996, p.200), which will led to separated
thoughts towards politics, ethnics, economics and law.4 Hobsbawm (1996: 5) says
The European Union has utterly failed in establishing a European identity as an
alternative to various national identities. You can see this even in institutions like the
European Parliament, which in effect is elected in each country on the basis of
national priorities5. The wealthy EU countries are looking negatively towards the
third countries. The data of Eurobarmeter concludes that the number of voters
dropped from 63% in 1979, 61% in 1984 and 59% in 1989, to 57% in 1994 and only
49% in 19996.
Third of all the retirement age in the European countries are different from each
other7. Having different retirement ages does not support a global European
economic since we all have to support our elder people. For example, in Belgium,
people retire at the age of sixty-five while you would have been retired in Italy eight
years earlier. Germany has a retirement age of sixty-five and in France it is sixty
years. In Malta the retirement age is sixty-one and in Ireland sixty-six.
1

http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/ (28-Sep-13)
http://www.academia.edu/359026/The_European_Cultural_Identity_Myth_Reality_or_Aspiration
3
http://www.racialcompact.com/nordishrace.html#anchor415126 (30-Sep-13)
4
http://www.alexandragiroux.net/a-europe-of-cultures-or-a-culture-of-europe (30-Sep-13)
5
http://www.brugesgroup.com/mediacentre/?article=13#european
6
Source: Institute for Citizenship, 2000, Speak Out on European Citizenship: Teachers Guide, London:
Institute for Citizenship.
7
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2010/07/britain-ends-mandatory-retirement.html (28-Sep-13)
2

Fourth of all each country has its own law policy. While the EU cannot adopt a
general EU criminal code, EU criminal legislation can add, within the limits of EU
competence, important value to the existing national criminal law systems. Retrieved
from http://ec.europa.eu/8, 28-september-2013. The European Union has set
minimum requirements for legislation but they also respect the national law. For
instance, in The Netherlands it is tolerated to use soft drugs in special places and at
your own house, while it is strictly forbidden to use soft drugs in United Kingdom9.
The penalty in the UK for using drugs has maximum of 5 years jail time plus a fine10.
With no borders in the European countries, soft drugs consumers from countries that
are not allowing soft drugs will be able to use it without the consequences they would
get in their country. Another example is the right to carry a weapon. While it is strictly
forbidden in most European countries, it is legal to use it in e.g. Czech Republic11
and Austria12.
The fifth reason why the European identity is a myth is because in the European
Union many languages are spoken. A total of 20 languages are dividing the
European countries from each other with 44% of the average of the European
citizens people do not speak any other then their mother tongue.13 Those people
cannot communicate with other European citizens.
Last of all is that not all of the European Union countries are using the same
currency.14 Eleven countries of the European Union kept their own currency. The
countries that are not using the Euro are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Trading with those countries might be more expensive or cheaper to trade with
because of the exchange, which will result in an unfair market position within the
Europe Union. The countries that use the Euro are not responsible for economic of
the countries that have their own currency.15
After all we can conclude that the European identity does not exist. The many
differences between the countries within the European Union are too big. The
European Union did set minimum requirements for the law policy but certainly does
not create unification by letting the country use own rules. Also not being obligated
for a European country to not have the Euro as their currency makes it feel like they
dont want to be part of it, just only want the benefits. The retirement does make it
feel that other European citizens might work less. The European Union exists and
does have a general government. However European Citizens do not want to lose
their national identity, law policy, culture and politics.
8

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/criminal-law-policy/ (30-Sep-13)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226385/Dutch-scrap-law-banning-cannabis-Holland.html
(30-Sep-13)
10
http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/what-are-the-penalties (30-Sep-13)
11
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/czech-republic (01-Okt-13)
12
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/austria (01-Okt-13)
13
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf (30-Sep-13)
14
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/euro/adoption/who_can_join/index_en.htm (30-Sep-13)
15
http://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/intro/html/map.en.html (1-Okt-13)
9

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