On European Integration

The European Community (EC) /European Union (EU) has already had a history of nearly half a century since it was founded in 1957. As the starting point of the European integration process, it is only a newly-born phenomenon in some sense. However, it has already made great impacts on both the overall world pattern and on nation states. How to define precisely the EU, which is neither a sovereign nation state in the traditional sense nor an international organization, but possesses some of the characteristics of the above two entities? And how to forecast its future developments? All the above-mentioned issues are worthy of deep-going researches. One of the main objectives of this paper is just to explore the above-mentioned issues from the perspectives of culture and psychology.Firstly, the writer made an analysis on the relationships between national identity and European unity, aiming to find out the conflicts between the European Union and the Member States in the process of European integration and the logical results of the European integration movements. National identity is the most persistent and far-reaching feeling of the citizens of a nation state, which has been externalized as national culture. To protect national identity is to vanguard national interests. In the European integration process, although the economic and political interests have always been the focus of debates and it is economic integration and political cooperation that the 'fathers' of European integration put on the forefront, without the cultural and psychological identity of the citizens of the Members States, the idealized 'United States of Europe' will probably collapse as the case of the former Soviet Union. Obviously, the politicians and scholars in favour of European integration have already realized this point. To strengthen the loyalty of the citizens of the Member States towards 'Europe', the EC/EU has put forward the concept of 'European identity' based on its common cultural heritage. To construct a European identity as well as maintaining the cultural diversity and to form a European identity founded on the national identity, is the only path to reach the final stage of European integration.In order to promulgate the relationships between national identity and European unity, the writer makes a case study on the 'four bigs', i.e., the UK, France, Germany and Italy, and other two small countries, that is, Ireland and Portugal, to make a detailed analysis on their national identities manifested in the European integration process. In the case studies, the writer points out that history and tradition, especially the formation process of a nation and state, has the greatest effect on the manifestation of the state's national characteristics. The more integrated a member state is, the stronger the support of its citizens to European integration, and vice versa. What's more, there are apparent differences between the big and small member states in their attitudes toward European integration. In most cases, the small countries are more inclined to support the EU. Last but not the least, the immigrants and the social inclusion policies of different member states also affect the European integration in some degree. Ofcourse, the role of the national elites in the integration process is a significant factor as well.On the basis of the analysis on European Citizenship, the single currency, EU constitution and the role of media in constructing European identity, the writer concludes that European identity can be 'created'. However, it is destined to take a long time. In fact, the EU has made great efforts in this aspect and has already achieved some fruits.As to the final stage of European integration, whether the EU should become a federal state or a loose union of the member states is always the focal point of debates. Nowadays the so-called 'Europe of regions' has emerged as a third model, which is being debated heatedly. The conclusion of the writer is that, in the foreseeable future, 'diversity in unity' wi...