Does Europe need enemies?

We all know that the current European financial crisis will be a main topic in the upcoming history books. The collapse of Greece, Italy and its debt, France threatened with slashed credit ratings. This week Bloomberg announced that Germany, the largest economy of the European union, stated that they “don’t have any new bazooka to pull out of the bag”. This is only a beginning of the domino effect that started a long time ago

According to the Czech editorialist Martin Ehl, Europe will never recover unless they become more united. And the best way to unite Europe is to face a common enemy together. However, even in Europe’s deepest crisis in history, Europeans are still incapable of creating a common identity. He argues that Europeans are unwilling to admit that what will bring the together is greater than what divides them (source). So where will we find this enemy that is so powerful that it will unite all Europeans?

The statements of Martin Ehl are linked with organizational theory and how organizations create their own identity. Europe is a large continent, with innumerable differences between the boarders. And while the European Union is supposed to represent Europe, highly developed countries such as Norway and Switzerland are choosing to stay outside of the union.

So how can the EU become completely united when its member countries have such different cultures?

According to the Romanian political scientist Alina mungiu-Pippidi, the EU could split into three different groups: the performers, the lame and the laggards, and she further states that we cannot count on a fake European identity to bring everyone together. “The obsession with Europeanness and Europeanism, generally based on an identity defined by a psychological point of view, make us lose sight of what Europe really is: a set of laws and the ability to apply them”.

What we are experiencing today is a multi-speed Europe, which in fact is not a new concept. To give one example, there are in total 10 member countries not even being part of the Eurozone, among them the UK, Sweden and Denmark. The support between these countries of the creation of a non-eurozone has recently increased (source).

If we take a look at Europe in the same way as Schein looks at organizations, we can analyze its culture by looking at the artifacts, values and basic assumptions. And the way we see the culture of Europe is more as a chain of overlapping cultures. It is a continent filled states characterized by different languages, habits, values and behaviors.

Therefore, we dare so disagree with Martin Ehl’s opinions on how Europe will benefit from becoming more united. Ehl argues that in this global economy, we need to lay aside old national and ideological categories, and work towards a stronger European identity. However, we see more a Europe in need of a redefinition of its vision and intentions.

We are interested in hearing the opinions of both European and non-European citizens on this topic. Do you agree with Marting Ehl’s arguemts on how Europe needs to become more united, or do you think the culture clashes we can identify between the states are too high barriers in order to make this actually happen?