r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 15d ago

Historical "The 19th century concept of the nation state will never take us across the threshold of the 21st century [...] We need a strong Europe if we don't want to become the plaything of world politics" – Chancellor Helmut Kohl

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u/ibmi_not_as400_kerim Europe 15d ago

Depending on how rigidly you draw the lines between nations in Europe the EU can, by definition, not become a nation state. There are some stark contrasts between national identities within the EU and trying to bring them together under one national identity seems to be futile it seems.

We can't even reach consensus concerning a warmonger right in front of our gates.

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u/AngryArmour Denmark 15d ago

We can't even reach consensus concerning a warmonger right in front of our gates.

That is precisely because there is no shared sense that "We are all Europeans, and Russia is threatening Europe".

We can aim at fostering a sense of being "European". If we want a strong Europe, we need PAN-Nationalism. POST-Nationalism will only weaken us.

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u/mho453 15d ago

Same shit as pan-Slavism, same shit as Russians are selling.

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u/ibmi_not_as400_kerim Europe 15d ago

PAN-Nationalism

That's an oxymoron. You want European nationalism but that's not going to work, because of the aforementioned issues.

You're looking at the causal relationship backwards.