1
November 2007
inside
“The European Union has
helped to promote democracy,
freedom, and human rights
throughout Europe. I know what
I’m talking about. I was born in
a country without democracy
and without freedom. I remember
that our European aspirations
were crucial to building a
democratic society in Portugal.”
José Manuel Barroso
President of the European
Commission
History is often marked by watershed events—
wars, significant social movements, the dramatic
beginnings or endings of regimes. The end of the
Cold War is one such marker for many Europeans
in 2007. Hailing from twenty-seven countries and
speaking even more languages, today’s European
citizens enjoy a measure of prosperity, peace, stability,
and solidarity unimaginable just 50 years ago.
Sharing democracy, respect for human rights, and
economic freedom, Europeans celebrate their
diversity—language, culture, ethnicity—while
increasingly reaching beyond the borders of their
particular country to the broader Europe.
Is a new European Identity coming into being?
What does it look like and how has the EU helped
bring about its creation? Certainly there exists a
broad recognition—and an expectation—of
rights, privileges, and freedoms that the EU helped
create or solidify.
Throughout Europe,EU values reflect national values.
In Central and Eastern Europe, where many nations
are relative newcomers to democratic governance and
free market economies, the lure of EU membership
was a beacon as these societies transformed
themselves following the end of the Cold War.
The generation coming of age in the East today
barely remembers the separation and closed
societies that existed previously, and already feels
firmly rooted in the larger EU and the values it
represents: democracy, pluralism, and freedom of
speech, religion, association, and thought. The
notion of “solidarity” among EU Member States
keeps the EU working to reduce disparities in
economic and social development, to the ultimate
betterment of all Europeans.
Among other tangible accomplishments of the
integration process is the free movement of goods,
services, persons, and capital throughout the Union.
Citizens can travel, study, work, shop, and live
anywhere in the EU—and have grown accustomed
to doing so. In thirteen EU countries, with more to
follow, the euro is the currency, simplifying travel,
eliminating exchange rate costs, and aiding price
comparisons across national borders.
Thanks to increased competition brought about by
the EU, quality is greater and many goods and
services are more affordable. For example, airfares
have plummeted and new airlines, including “nofrills”
carriers, are making making travel easier and
more affordable. Educational exchange has
exploded in popularity, energized by programs
such as the EU’s Erasmus program. For both practical
and philosophical reasons, the EU embraces its
natural multilingualism, the continued growth of
which further erases borders within the EU.
The changing face of Europe today is not about
geography as much as a new way of living for all
Europeans. What once were obstacles have been
transformed into opportunities on a continental
scale. As many forces converge, a new European
sense of identity is indeed taking shape—even if it
cannot be precisely defined or if it looks a bit different
at various points across the breadth of the
European Union.
2 Building A European
Consciousness:
The EU Role
4 The Economy
& Society
6 Educational
Exchange &
“Mobility”
8 Gauging European
Identity Within the
“European Project”
The Emerging European Identity
Unity and Diversity, Peace and Prosperity
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Building A European
Consciousness: The EU Role
What is it that is making many Europeans feel
more European today? In large part, and not
always acknowledged, it is the role of the EU in
bringing the citizens of Europe closer together by
breaking down barriers, ensuring fundamental
rights, and helping foster an enduring peace that
indeed makes war between European nations
unthinkable for most EU citizens today.
Free Movement of Persons, Goods,
Services, Capital
Chief among the fundamental rights guaranteed to
EU citizens are the free movement of persons,
goods, services, and capital throughout the EU.
Free Movement of People & the Schengen Area.
Just one generation ago, during the last years of a
Cold War that bisected a continent, who could
have imagined a Europe without borders in which
citizens can move freely and work and live
wherever they choose? Today, these rights are
considered the norm, particularly by the “new
Europeans,” the post-Cold War generation just
coming of age now. Thanks to the EU, citizens of
Member States can travel, shop, live, and work
anywhere in the Union—in fact, removing
national restrictions has enabled more than 15
million Europeans to go to another EU country to
work or retire.
EU citizens can enter any EU country with just a
passport or identity card, without having to
comply with special formalities. Within the
“Schengen area” (EU Member States Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, along with non-EU
nations Iceland and Norway), there are generally
no identification checks at internal borders.
Schengen rules remove all internal border controls,
establishing effective controls at the external
borders of the EU and introducing a common visa
policy. Switzerland and the newer EU Member
States are prepared to join Schengen once
conditions have been met for abolishing internal
border controls. The United Kingdom and Ireland
have chosen to maintain border controls with the
other EU Member States.
Living & Working. Beyond merely traveling, EU
citizens have the right to stay in another Member
State without conditions for up to three months.
For longer periods, an EU citizen may settle in
another EU country to work, study, train, or retire,
or if the citizen and family members have sufficient
resources to avoid becoming a burden on the state.
Importantly, the freedom of citizens to work in
another EU country has been guaranteed from the
start—included in the founding Treaty, now half a
century old. Free movement of workers is one of
the most important EU rights for individuals and
an essential element of European citizenship.
2
“Citizenship of the Union is
hereby established. Every person
holding the nationality of a
Member State shall be a citizen of
the Union. Citizenship of the
Union shall complement and not
replace national citizenship.
…
Every citizen of the Union shall
have the right to move and reside
freely within the territory of the
Member States.”
Treaty Establishing the European
Community, Articles 17(1) & 18(1)
European Passport
Issued by individual Member States to their own citizens, European
passports have a common format, with the words “European Union”
on the burgundy cover, along with the name of the individual
member country.
Like the common currency, the euro, the European passport is a
powerful symbol of the Union—one that recognizes both the
EU and the Member State—and a reminder to citizens of their
status as modern Europeans.
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3
Workers have the right to job hunt, work, reside,
and remain in another Member State. Part of the
EU’s contribution is to help make this happen.
It is this very freedom that has at times caused a
measure of anxiety in some Member States as
less-wealthy countries joined the Union, leading
to fears of flooded employment markets in more
developed countries. Such qualms have proven
largely unfounded—internal migration has
tended to follow the jobs, often reinforcing
economic and job growth in larger, wealthier
Member States.
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“Working in another European
country gives individuals the
chance to learn a new language,
discover a new culture, and
develop new skills. Job mobility is
also crucial to Europe’s objective
of boosting jobs and growth.”
Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner
for Employment, Social Affairs,
and Equal Opportunities
Working Around Europe: How the EU Facilitates Citizen Mobility
Portable Benefits. EU nations have a range of social protection plans, but most countries organize and at
least partially fund benefits for unemployment,health care,disability,maternity,and retirement.The EU’s
special role is to coordinate the national programs, particularly with regard to mobility and portable
benefits throughout the EU, an essential prerequisite for the free movement of people.
Job-Hunting. A massive job-search database, EURES, not only helps citizens find work in 31 European
countries (All 27 EU Member States plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland), but also
provides advice and information about living and working conditions throughout Europe.
Europass. An EU tool designed to foster mobility and lifelong learning by helping citizens better
communicate and present their qualifications and skills throughout Europe, Europass offers five
documents (e.g., a Europass CV), available in all EU languages.
Recognition of Qualifications. The rights of EU citizens to establish themselves or to provide
services anywhere in the EU are fundamental freedoms in the Single Market. EU rules guaranteeing
the mutual recognition of qualifications between Member States are designed to overcome potential
obstacles presented by national regulations that would only recognize professional qualifications
from a particular jurisdiction.
For those in regulated professions, the EU has introduced a system to streamline recognition of
qualifications by different EU countries. For a select number of professions—including architect,
midwife, pharmacist, doctor, nurse, dentist, and veterinary surgeon—a system is in place for
automatic recognition. A more general arrangement applies to others who are qualified to practice a
profession in one Member State and wish to have their qualifications recognized in another Member
State in order to practice there.
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4
Even though the European Economic Model or the
European Social Model are, in fact, a number of
models across EU Member States, it is fair to say
that Europeans by and large understand and
appreciate a society that values both economic
success and social protections. Universal health
care, fixed pension plans, and other social benefits
are commonplace—and highly valued—in
EU countries.
Fundamentals: The “Single Market.” With the
EU’s origins as a common market and trading
bloc, the largely technical process of eliminating
barriers to intra-EU trade has been a long, laborious
process, often unnoticed by European citizens.
The“Single Market,”however, is a singular achievement—the
elimination of physical, technical, and
tax-related barriers to commerce between Member
States—and one which is at the very core of the
Union. Today, with old barriers gone, most goods,
services, and money move around Europe as freely
as within a single country.
The effects are widely felt. The opening of national
markets in the EU has brought down the price of
national telephone calls to a fraction of what they
cost one decade ago. With competitive pressure, the
prices of budget airfares in Europe have dropped
significantly. The EU has completed its plan to create
an integrated market for financial services, cutting
the cost of borrowing for business and consumers,
offering a wider range of investment products, and
reducing bank charges for cross-border payments.
In short, a plethora of goods and services are
available across the EU as readily as if they came
from next door. The European Commission
estimates that the Single Market has created 2.5
The Euro: A Common Currency for Europe
In many ways, the euro is perhaps the most powerful symbol of the European Union for EU citizens
and non-EU citizens alike.
A national currency is a very personal thing for most people, something wrapped up in the nation
and culture and not easily given up. It is no small matter, then, that 13 European nations share the
euro, the EU’s common currency, and nearly all
Member States plan, and are required by treaty,
to adopt it in the future. Easing the psychological
transition, the“national side”of euro coins is
a physical reminder that a growing and increasingly
borderless Europe does not eliminate
national identities.
To outsiders, besides simplifying travel and
doing business in the EU, the common
currency denotes a coalescing continent, a
union that is indeed much more than a mere
grouping of nations.
“[The] European model combines
economic success and social
responsibility. Only together can
we continue to preserve our ideal
of European society in future for
the good of all European Union
citizens .”
Berlin Declaration, March 25,
2007, on the occasion of the
50th Anniversary of the EU
A European Consciousness:
The Economy & Society
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5
y
f
y
g
million new jobs since 1993 and generated more
than 800 billion in additional wealth.
Trade & Commerce. An EU citizen is free to shop
throughout the EU with virtually no limits on
purchases (aside from quantitative limits
applying to tobacco and alcohol) as long as it is
for personal use and not for resale. Taxes (VAT
and excise duties) are included in the price paid
and no further payment of tax is due in any other
EU country, with the exception of new car
purchases, which are taxed when registered in the
country of residence. Shopping in another
country has become convenient and commonplace,
and citizens can bargain-hunt for lower
prices and more favorable VAT rates as they
please. Should an English family wish to purchase
wine in France for a family member’s wedding,
they simply drive to France—in these days of the
Chunnel—buy it (paying tax in France), and
return home. Quite simple.
European consumers today enjoy a wider range of
choices for products and services at competitive
and more easily comparable prices. EU consumer
protection law gives citizens confidence that they
are purchasing safe products and services in
whatever Member State they shop.
Lesser-Known Roles: The EU Keeping Europe Healthy & Safe
In a number of areas, the European Union is actively making Europe a better place to live but,
ironically, the EU role is not very well-known by its own citizens. Among these important, but
lesser-known roles:
Public Health. While health care delivery falls within the domain of the individual Member
States, as cross-border health threats evolve in a growing and increasingly mobile Union, the EU
plays a critical role in promoting and coordinating health care solutions for all EU citizens,
focusing on disease prevention, overall preparedness, and rapid response to potential dangers to
human health.
The European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) pools knowledge and expertise, reinforcing the
continent-wide disease control system, strengthening rapid alert systems for disease outbreaks,
supporting the preparedness of EU institutions and Member States against epidemics, and
providing scientific advice.
The EU has also begun to address longer-term issues of promoting healthier living for its citizens,
including strategies to deal with the impact of poor diet and nutrition, lack of physical activity,
tobacco use, and alcohol abuse.
Consumer Protection. The EU works to ensure that all products sold in the EU are safe and that
consumers are not defrauded, and also that consumers have the information needed to make
informed, rational choices.
Importantly, the EU role protects consumers both at their local supermarket or when shopping
elsewhere in the EU, including on the internet. Strong, clear, EU-wide consumer protection rules
reassure citizens while strengthening the EU’s internal market by providing a simpler landscape
for business as compared to 27 different regulatory regimes.
“The Community shall have as
its task, by establishing a common
market and an economic and
monetary union and by
implementing common policies or
activities…to promote throughout
the Community a
harmonious, balanced and
sustainable development of
economic activities, a high level of
employment and of social protection,
equality between men and
women, sustainable and noninflationary
growth, a high
degree of competitiveness and
convergence of economic performance,
a high level of protection
and improvement of the quality
of the environment….”
Treaty Establishing the European
Community, Article 2
“Soft Power”—The EU on the World Stage
In the wake of differences between some EU countries and the United States about the
invasion of Iraq, a good deal has been made of the soft power/hard power distinction
between the EU and the U.S. While such discussions are often oversimplified—a
number of EU nations sent troops to Iraq and earlier to Afghanistan, and the Union
itself has certain military capabilities, some of which rely on partnership with NATO—
it is fair to say that Europeans by and large feel inclined to rely heavily on the inherent
“soft power” of persuasion and incentive available to the EU by virtue of its size and
economic importance in the world, turning to military action only as a last resort and
then with a specific multilateral mandate.
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Erasmus: 20 Years of Bringing
Europeans Together
Twenty years ago, no major European-level student
exchange program was available within the EU.
Today, thanks to two decades of the Erasmus
program, more than 1.5 million European students
have studied abroad in another European country,
typically acquiring another language and becoming
acquainted with another culture.
Erasmus is designed to support “European” activities
of higher education institutions and to promote
the“mobility”(exchange) of their teaching staff and
students.A remarkable 90 percent of EU universities
take part in Erasmus, providing full academic
recognition of studies and qualifications throughout
the EU. Erasmus is truly a phenomenon, vastly
more successful than its early proponents imagined.
For many participants, Erasmus represents a
turning point in their lives, introducing new experiences,
broadening horizons, and making them more
well-rounded European citizens.
Named after the cosmopolitan Dutch scholar who
lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the
program has greatly contributed to an enhanced
sense of European citizenship and identity among
participants and the larger university populations.
Results
n Studies confirm that participation in Erasmus
can be a key asset when it comes to finding a
job—employers view a study abroad period as a
distinguishing attribute.
n Students achieved greater linguistic competence,
with 65 percent able to work in a second
language and others also improving their skills
in a third or fourth language.
n Erasmus has been and continues to be a driver
for change in European higher education, for
example by inspiring the Bologna Process, a
major initiative to simplify Europe’s higher
education system.
In Their Own Words: The Erasmus
Experience
ARomanianStudentinPortugal.“I saw that despite
being so different from one another, speaking different
languages, one can find open minds and the
same purpose. We students abroad are the agents for
change in the world. Through Erasmus I have
become a better citizen of the world.”
An Estonian Student in Finland. “As the students
were from different countries and with different
backgrounds, seminars turned out to be very
interesting and full of different approaches.”
A Portuguese Student in Sweden. “When I finished
my Erasmus year I felt not only Portuguese, but a bit
Swedish…a little bit Italian as well, and Spanish,
German, French, and so on…! This experience
made me want to work abroad, which I am doing
now. In fact, Erasmus really changes your life.”
6
Erasmus Goes to
the Movies
The film L’auberge espagnole drew
attention to the Erasmus program
in the United States with its
entertaining depiction of a French
Erasmus student in Barcelona
studying and living with
housemates from seven different
European countries.
“I am French, Spanish, English,
Danish. I am not one but several.
I am like Europe, I am all of that!”
—L’auberge espagnole
“Erasmus has developed beyond
just being an educational program.
It gives many European
university students the chance
of living for the first time in a
foreign country, and it has
reached the status of a social
and cultural phenomenon.”
José Manuel Barroso
President of the European
Commission
Educating the New Europeans: “Mobility” and Exc
Enhancing the European Identity
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nd Exchange Programs
“As an integral part of our
identity, language is the structuring
element of any culture and its
most direct expression. To respect
and promote linguistic and
cultural diversity is one of the
European Union’s strategic
priorities and a basic key to
European integration. The
promotion of intercultural
dialogue is inseparable from
multilingualism.”
Leonard Orban
European Commissioner for
Multilingualism
Multilingualism: A Hallmark Strength of the EU
One of the hallmarks of the European Union is respect for diversity, including all 23 official
languages of the 27 Member States as well as additional regional languages. Linguistic diversity is
a daily reality in Europe, and the EU is committed to preserving
and promoting this enriching feature of European society. All EU
legislation must be published and made available simultaneously
in all official languages.
Yet because language barriers can present practical obstacles to
those wishing to take advantage of student exchange programs or
employment opportunities in other Member States, the EU has
focused on improving language skills, calling for concrete action
such as teaching at least two foreign languages beginning at a very
early age and more broadly seeking to help business increase
language skills to boost competitiveness and create jobs.
A recent Eurobarometer survey found that 56 percent of EU
citizens are able to hold a conversation in a language other than
their mother tongue, up by 9 percent since 2001. Twenty-eight percent can converse in two
foreign languages. This multilingual group could well represents a key facet of an emerging
European identity.
Promoting Intercultural Understanding Beyond Europe
Erasmus Mundus. Launched in 2004, Erasmus Mundus is a European Masters program that
provides scholarships to students and visiting scholars from around the world for post-graduate
study at participating European universities.
This program also provides for
partnerships with institutions outside the
EU that allow European students and
scholars to study in non-EU countries. As
with the original Erasmus program, the idea
is to promote intercultural understanding,
in this case through cooperation with nonEU
countries, while at the same time
enhancing the quality of higher education
in Europe.
Tempus. Higher education is a priority for
EU development cooperation activities with
neighboring countries in Eastern Europe,
Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle
East. The Trans-European Mobility Scheme
for University Studies (TEMPUS) funds
projects between the higher education
sector in the EU and its 26 partner countries
to facilitate university modernization,
mutual learning between regions and
peoples, and understanding between
cultures.
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For further information: http://www.eurunion.org/eufocus
DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
EUROPEAN UNION
TO THE USA
EU Focus is published bi-monthly
by the Delegation of the European
Commission to the United States.
Anthony Smallwood
Spokesman and Head of Press
& Public Diplomacy
Editor-in-Chief
Ben Harrison
Editor
Melinda Stevenson
Writer/Assistant Editor
ISSN: IQ-AA-07-006-EN-C
Delegation of the European
Commission to the United States
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
202.862.9500
www.eurunion.org
email:delegation-usa-info@ec.europa.eu
Gauging European Identity
Within the “European Project”
The European Project at age 50 continues to be a
work in progress, unfolding at its own pace,
driven by the sometimes difficult process of
decision-making by consensus of 27 sovereign
states. Similarly, the notion of a European identity
is emerging gradually, in a manner very personal
to individuals but reflective of the fact that the
European Union is increasingly a part of everyday
life for modern Europeans.
European citizens have experienced intense
change during the past 15 years—completion of
the “single market,” the opening up of national
borders, launching a common currency, more
than doubling the size of the EU between 1995
and 2007. These and other significant EU
achievements are shaping what it means to be
European today by defining some of what citizens
themselves want and expect of Europe.
A 2007 Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens found
that an average 57 percent of citizens think that EU
membership for their country is a good thing, the
highest level of support in over a decade. Looking
50 years into the future, the majority of EU citizens
see the EU playing a strong role diplomatically,with
its own army and a directly-elected President.
Such positive trends seem at odds with the
“enlargement fatigue”reported in some quarters,or
the“No”votes by Dutch and French citizens in their
respective referenda on the Constitutional Treaty in
2005. But are they really? It is one thing to vote“no”
on an unfamiliar treaty, or to call for a more open
debate and process, or even to feel the need for an
“enlargement pause” to catch one’s breath after a
period of momentous change. It is another thing
entirely to reject the European Union or revert to a
Europe without the EU.
The challenge before the EU today is to continue
building a Europe that is more transparent and
responsive to citizens’ needs. Leaders are working to
bring the EU closer to the average citizen and boost
accountability while continuing to remind
Europeans of the benefits delivered by the EU,many
of which are simply taken for granted these days.
The European integration process is the most
ambitious undertaking of its kind in the world,
indeed in history. In half a century, the EU has
changed the European landscape, dramatically
improving the lives of its citizens, bringing peace,
stability, and prosperity, and helping shape the
emerging European identity.
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