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Thanks, jjellin. I would hope we can pick it up and run with it ourselves (! :)), if we get enough feedback here. As for an MSM relay, it wouldn't be entirely paranoid, I think, to fear that it would be picked up by a campaigning Euroskeptic outlet like the Daily Telegraph, which would use it as yet another example of how awful the EU is.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 at 09:03:19 AM EST
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Ah, okay.  Shows how little understanding I have of the politics here, but that is one of the reasons I appreciate ET--I learn.  So, there is more of an anti-EU press out there, already, perhaps rooted in the various established national/local cultures, but there is not much countering "voice," whether pro-EU in a political sense, or even  articulating/celebrating EU identity?

Is it impolite to ask what is European identity?  Perhaps a safer question in the context of this diary is what right does any European living outside their country of birth  have to use the local resources of their place of residence to vote in a EU elections?  (meant to be rhetorical, and hopefully not offensive)

by jjellin on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 at 10:22:33 AM EST
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There's a strong anti-EU (PC term: Eurosceptic or -skeptic) press in the UK in particular. In general, there's not much that's strongly pro-EU anywhere. Why is this? That's a whole other-diary topic :), though we do discuss it here quite a bit - it often crops up in the Salon when looking at news sources, for example.

A European identity is also a huge subject, and one I don't think we have yet fully addressed satisfactorily. A European political and civic identity, I'd say, probably doesn't yet exist, or barely. Which is the main reason that pushes me to write this diary.

Here's one I wrote on EU citizenship: Life, Love, Death and the EU.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 at 11:02:19 AM EST
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One of the big factors is the essential invisibility of the European political process on the evening news. The average nights news broadcast has 15 minutes of National politics, The European parliament is lucky to have that much coverage in a year in the UK.

Till the media starts taking the European institutions seriously, the population aren't going to either. Ludicrous Eurosceptic stories will find easy traction amidst the lack of any real reporting.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 at 11:08:44 AM EST
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Same in France: I often mentioned that for French pols, the European Parliament in Strasbourg (a French city!) is akin to political exile in Siberia.

Several cabinet members who were elected a week ago have already demurred and will stay in Paris (and in the French government) instead.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Mon Jun 15th, 2009 at 04:35:08 PM EST
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