As a Spaniard, I think that Spain is a quite unique country compared to the rest of the continent. I only see similarity with neighboring Portugal, and perhaps, to a much lesser extent, with Italy or Greece.
I don't feel any connection of any kind with other countries in the European Union, they are completely alien to me. I personally believe that the European Union has failed to create a "European" identity.
What do you think? Does the same happen to you?
19 comments
EU/EEA is nothing close to United States (currency, language) or Spain itself (autonomy of provinces, languages). In the past it was like fake or virtual union. The Schengen Area helped to improve things.
Yes the benelux have connections with eachother both culturally and historically. Other than that the southern part of Belgium has connections with France and the northern has connections with the Netherlands, both of them are due to linguistic and cultural reasons.
Luxembourg has less of a cultural connection but they’re like the littlest brother of the benelux union and they do have historical ties to belgium since the fall of napoleon.
I feel close to Europe and I consider Europe my “comfort zone”. With all of our great and awesome differences, we also share many similarities. Some people feel like this, and some people feel more like you, but it’s hard to create a “European identity” out of thin air and expect it to work wonders in the little time that it has been around, especially when we have been beating each other until yesterday.
Spanish, btw
I’m from Sweden, but also lived in Spain for a while studying Spanish. I think the differences between our countries in the EU is what makes it interesting. I also lived in Ireland and Poland for a couple of years. The fact that it’s (relatively) easy to move to another EU country to work and study is something that connects us, imo.
Obviously I feel the closest culturally to the other Scandinavian countries (and Finland, main difference there is the language).
As I said, I think the differences between our cultures are what makes it interesting. But, I still feel connected to my fellow Europeans in the EU.
I’m from the UK but lived in Spain for six years, ofc there were some cultural differences, most of them good, but I felt like adapting was fairly easy as there were a lot of similarities. Very few things were radically different, the UK and Spain are clearly both western European countries (even if my compatriots disagree)
Spain and Netherlands. Yes, definitely.
European culture is a thing even though there are huge differences and people tend to focus only on them and forget the plentiful similarities that definitely don’t exist outside of Europe. In any case, it’s always subjective.
I am Spanish and I feel European. Things like common currency, Schengen area, feeling able to speak English in almost every big city in the EU… Makes Europe feel to me like a big comfort zone. Travelling to US or Asia is a much bigger deal, and not only due to the distance. I feel more on my own if something happens, I’m not used to using other currencies, cultural behaviors are more distinct… Etc.
So, yeah. Also I am a sucker for Eurovision and believe me, that drama brings us all together every single year.
Edit: Culture changes widely through Europe, but southern Spain, northeast Spain and northern Spain are also super different, and it all feels like my country. Therefore, I don’t need to feel like everything has to be exactly the same as in my birth town to feel like home. People do that, and I’ve always felt welcome in Europe.
Ive lived in Asia for a long time and the longer I spent outside of Europe, the more our “inter-European” differences started to feel like window dressing.
So if you ask me, the crux of the matter might be Europe’s tendency to navel gaze. From the perspective of a tight knit family, each sibling will appear radically different. From the perspective of a city or beyond, those siblings are functionally the same. It’s all a matter of scope.
So yes, to answer you directly I do feel kinship with fellow Europeans and other westerners. We agree on so much more than we do with non-western nations and that actually matters.
I do. Both on a personal level, as someone who has family abroad and spent some years abroad as well. But also on a more general level. Of course countries have their own cultures, histories, interests etc. but the beauty of the EU is that we, in part due to it and in part despite of it, can still work together and make something bigger. It is of course on a spectrum, I feel closer to a Swede than a Spaniard, but I still recognise that we are all in the Union and that we are in this together
I definitly feel cultural connection and familiarity in many EU countries.
I feel pretty much ‘at home’ in most of our neighbours or other post-soviet countries, there is just a distinct feeling and way of people acting that is unshakeable.
Other then that i think Germany and Chech Rep, France are similar in different ways. The way people act and think, the foods, the cities, even nature is pretty similar if you compare it to some place like India.
Well, you feel connection to some european countries, but you don’t feel any connection to non-european countries. This in itself, is a european connection.
I do feel some connection to neighbouring coutries, because of historic and economic ties. But let’s say Malta and Cyprus are for me as distant as New Zealand. I feel ”European” as a person born in European continent, and not some ”citizen of Europe”
Yes, I have been to most EU states and have felt everywhere at home and yet somewhere else but the difference to non European countries is vast. Austria has similarities with all its neighbours +Poland, Croatia, France etc so I feel more European (or human tbh..) than anything else.
An European identity does not mean btw we are all the same but we work collectively on this project and are united based on shared values (human rights, basic democratic freedoms (which are under threat by “central” and far right political parties)).
The more you travel, the more you are at home in the EU. But culturally there have been failings (the Eurovision promotes the English language and stupid pop music instead of real art or musical worlds (Latvian and Lithuanian music is underrated for example)… I think there should be a bigger cooperation for a non American style art sector be it in movies, series or other projects…between countries.
Yes, generally. I don’t think I’ve experienced true culture shock anywhere in Europe that I’ve lived in or visited. Obviously there are cultural differences, but I feel like we have more similarities than differences, and a lot of our differences are mostly superficial things like speaking a different language, or having different weather or architecture. On a deeper level we’re all more similar than some people realise.
Only to our Scandinavien neighbours. I dont feel European in any sense, but I feel Scandinavian or nordic at best. We’re closely integrated with each other since long before the EU. Thanks to the Nordic Council.
But beyond that? No, I don’t relate or feel connected to say Poland, Germany, France or Italy. The cultural differences and just the way they live their lives is too different to me. I dont see any major similarities. Every time someone asks on reddit something X about EU or europe and everyone responds “Acktually we’re not one country, there’s different systems or X in every country so we aren’t all the same” hits home.
I’m from portugal and I feel connected to everyone on this side of europe (spain, italy, france, switzerland) but not with the contries in the baltics, for some reason. I work with many people from many different european countries and they all love the fact that I’m portuguese. the countries I feel less connected to are romania, turkey and bulgaria. those guys are weird imo
I feel connected with other countries. Never been to Western Europe, so can’t comment for those, but traveling around neighboring countries, north and south down to Slovakia, they all feel similar in some type of way, with a lot of intricacies that I just love to experience.
I do. Having been around most of Europe, I really don’t think we’re all that different from eachother. There are ofcourse cultural differences between all the different countries, but at the end of the day most of those differences feel superficial.
Sure?
Other European countries are the countries most like mine. Cultural and historical connection, but most importantly similar basic values and ideals on how a society should work.