Dear Lithuanian students,
In the subject Europe-Project we recently dealt with the question “What makes a European?” We did various presentations on that topic and heard different opinions and point of views. I will try to summarize the main points:
Spontaneously everybody said a European is a person, who is born in Europe. But the topic goes deeper and is not as simple as that. First of all are the borders of Europe not for sure. It is commonly said that the border between Europe and Asia consists of the Ural Mountains. A part of Russia would be count to Europe according to that theory. Then the question comes up, if whole Russia is part of Europe. The same problem has Turkey. So should the borders be drawn politically, culturally or historically?
Immigration is also a topic, which not complies with our first theory. Are immigrants also Europeans or not? They are not born in Europe, but they live there, sometimes for generations. They life like Europeans and I personally think they are. Nobody should be excluded, because of his or her origins. So from this it follows, that to be European is based on a feeling and not dependent on the background or the place, where somebody is born.
Europe is very diverse and correspondingly it includes many different cultures and mentalities, which are, as we know, very different. The countries have different traditions, different dishes, different music and sometimes even different currencies. What they have in common, what makes them European, although they are so different? A point, which was mentioned in one of the presentations, was that the European countries are not confronted with so called third world problems, but they have a certain responsibility towards those countries.
Politically seen every European country has in common, that it is a democracy. There is no dictatorship anymore, like in the past. Most European countries are also relatively good at environmental awareness.
The life standard and life conditions are in general a point, which connects the European countries, but just very general, because the life standards are sometimes very different within Europe. There are countries with a high crime rate. However Europe is always associated with modernity and counts to the far developed “western world”
The appearance of Europeans was another topic, which somebody held a presentation on. The conclusion was, that the appearance makes not a European, because every ethnic group looks different, even every person looks different. The reason for that is the mixing of genes all over the world. Of course there are typical features for every country, but all in all the appearance is very mixed.
Not to forget is the European Union (EU). 27 of the 50 countries, situated in Europe united to a confederation. As we know it was created to beware peace and avoid a further war. Europe is often associated with the EU, but the EU is not Europe, just an important element. Anyway the EU is still in process; candidate countries waiting to be taken in and problems, sometimes self-caused, which are requiring solutions.
These are a few points we collected during our research work. All in all we could say that Europe is like a patchwork rag, containing many different colors and materials. It is a modern rag, but even though there are some flaws and holes, when you look closer. Anyway it gives some warmth to people.
Best regards,
Mercedes Amsler
