Tom Rachman takes a view from Trieste, Italy – crossroads of the Slavic east, Germanic centre and Latin south.

The economic effects on Italy, of this larger EU as a trading bloc, should have a positive effect. The geographical boundaries being extended considerable East making Italy more in the Center should be beneficial, but the northern emphasis, will probably lessen the benefit. As in previous expansions all kinds of unexpected consequences occur.

The European Union expands from 15 to 25 members, tying ex-Soviet bloc states to Mediterranean islands to Western European powers – 455 million citizens, 20 official languages, age-old resentments and memories of war, not to mention a blinding number of ways to cook dinner.

Joining the EU tomorrow are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The present EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
==============================================
REDEFINING EUROPE
The Star.com
By Tom Rachman
Friday April 30, 2004

Tomorrow, the European Union expands to 25 members when 10 more nations join the ‘club’. As the new Europe gets bigger, its nations often struggle to find common threads.

FROM the battles of ancient Greece to the violent dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Europeans have generally seemed more intent on clubbing each other than on clubbing together.

The Romans walloped their neighbours. Catholics and Protestants shared God but couldn’t agree on much else. The French and British irritated each other non-stop. And that was before the world wars and genocide of the 20th century.

After centuries of dispute, these notoriously fractious folk have begun to unite under the European Union, with a common currency, a planned constitution, and talk of a joint foreign policy and army.

The various names for this place – from Europe to Europa to Evropa – are the buzzwords of the day. The name, born of Greek mythology on ancient Crete, proclaims itself everywhere, from euro bank notes to the Eurostar train burrowing under the English Channel.

Tomorrow, the European Union expands from 15 to 25 members, tying ex-Soviet bloc states to Mediterranean islands to Western European powers – 455 million citizens, 20 official languages, age-old resentments and memories of war, not to mention a blinding number of ways to cook dinner.

Italian businessman Stefano Morgan relaxing in the historical San Marco cafe in Trieste which at various times in the past was controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia, the British and Americans and now Italy.

But do Europeans really have anything in common? Interviews in several European countries indicate that few feel foremost European, in part because it’s so tricky defining what “a European” is.

An EU poll of the 25 countries published in February bears this out. Asked how they will see themselves in the near future, 86% said being European would come second to their present nationality or wouldn’t figure at all.

Traditionally, people strive for a state. In Trieste, Italy – crossroads of the Slavic east, Germanic centre and Latin south – the invented European state must strive for a people, which is not an easy task in a city as historically muddled as this. It was the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Mediterranean port in the 18th and 19th centuries; Italy incorporated it in 1918; the Nazis occupied it near the end of World War II; Yugoslavia took brief control after Germany’s defeat; the British and Americans bumped them out; and now, it’s part of Italy – and by extension the European Union.

Librarian Lisbeth Stiger was born in Austria, works in a German cultural centre and speaks fondly of Trieste, her adopted city, where people eat pasta but sip coffee in Viennese-style cafes, a custom harking back to Austro-Hungarian times. Her setting didn’t appear to make her feel much more European.

“Between an Irishman and someone from Malta there’s a huge difference, both culturally and in the way of thinking,” Stiger said. “I’d never say I feel European. Deep down I’m Austrian.”

At the University of Trieste, in Piazzale Europa – Europe Square – students hanging out between classes indicated that Europeans do share values, but not a common identity.

A 24-year-old law student, Alex Tardivo, puffed a cigarette and suggested that “tolerance could be our strong point.” A 22-year-old engineering student, Omar Tullio, said European culture “is fairly embryonic now.”

Certainly, Europe isn’t a melting pot, a shared allegiance, a “United States”. That was never the intention of the six countries that started the partnership in the 1950s as an economic bloc to lift them out of the wreckage of World War II.

That said, outlines of European identity can be sketched, with admittedly imperfect strokes:

**Europeans share pride in their stunningly creative past, their art and science, whose ancient markers are still evident in centuries-old frescoes dabbed onto the ceilings of village churches and in the stunning architecture of great cities.

“Europe means common tradition regardless of the many historical antagonisms,” former Polish Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski said in Warsaw. “It’s a Europe of common history, tradition, and civilisation, which leads to human rights and finally to democracy.”
 

**Europeans also tend to believe that their governments have an obligation to care for the weak, and they pay high taxes to finance generous health, welfare and pension systems.

“That’s different from the American conception where there’s much more stress on individual effort,” said Heather Grabbe of the Centre for European Reform in London.

**Totalitarianism in the 20th century – Nazism, Communism – has bred a reluctance to engage in military conflicts.

“I suppose compared to the Americans we are all depressives – but then they haven’t suffered so many wars and ethnic conflicts on their own soil as we have,” 35-year-old Hungarian Cornelia Sarkozi said in Budapest.

**At times, they agree less on what they are than on what they are not – not African, not Asian, and not American.  “As a European, I feel much more open to changes, open to new interests, cultures and countries. I see Americans as much more limited in the way of thinking and seeing things,” said Stiger, the librarian.

EU proponents tout their project not only as a way to help nations prosper. The conditions for membership – market economy, democracy, human rights – have brought considerable changes in countries still struggling with the legacy of dictatorships.

With all that, do Europeans need to feel like brothers and sisters?

The EU would be stronger if they did. The idea of “being European” is sometimes mixed up with being in the club itself. The danger is that when EU-building hits a rough patch, people forget the benefits of open borders and tariff-free trade and turn sour on being European.

The euro, the most obvious sign of unity, is a case in point. Some EU citizens complain that the new currency brought huge inflation. Costs have certainly shot up in Italy since the euro was introduced in 2002, with many accusing shopkeepers of greedily rounding up prices in the new currency.

“I don’t want Europe. I want Italy. I want a return of the lira and all that,” grumbled Trieste furniture salesman Mariano Gianella, lighting cigarettes with a matchbook inappropriately emblazoned with the blue-and-yellow EU flag. “They’ve doubled the prices and that’s it.”

One strong proponent of European unity outside the EU is Pope John Paul II. The Polish-born pontiff argues that this continent’s Christian history helps define Europeans.

Several countries don’t like the sound of that, especially those trying to appear inclusive to growing populations of immigrants, many of them Muslim. The issue is one of many that have deadlocked the proposed constitution.

Awkward as it may be, debate over religion and European values has become unavoidable. France and Germany are struggling over allowing Islamic head scarves in public settings, while Italy was scandalised when a court ordered Christian crosses removed from a school – a ruling later overturned.

Immigration and the expansion of the EU both throw doubt on whether it’s possible to define “Europeans” as their numbers and nature shift.

Trieste businessman Cheng Tsu Jung is an immigrant from China and an Italian citizen, firmly rooted on this continent and holding strong opinions about it. He argued that Europe still has to win over its own people – offer something tangible and sweet to sell the idea of being European.

Cheng looks to his 14-year-old Italian-born son, fluent in this country’s language but struggling with Chinese.  “The new generation,” he says, “will feel more European than we do.” – AP

Photo: Italian businessman Stefano Morgan relaxing in the historical San Marco cafe in Trieste which at various times in the past was controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Nazi Germany, Yugoslavia, the British and Americans and now Italy.

Photo: Chinese-born and Italian citizen Cheng Tsu Jung with his wife Zhan Seng Zhen, their son Hao Maurizio (left) and daughter Daniela Xiaon, in his restaurant in Trieste, northern Italy. "The new generation," Cheng says, "will feel more European than we do."

Joining the EU tomorrow are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The present EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

The Star Online: Lifestyle
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/
2004/4/30/features/7872597&sec=features