Mircea Cărtărescu on the illusory United States of Europe

The Romanian President Traian Băsescu has made a plea for the creation of a United States of Europe. But it is hardly likely that such a mega state will ever emerge, writes the Romanian author Mircea Cărtărescu in the daily Evenimentul Zilei: "The European states have a thousand-year history behind them. They have their own language, traditions, psychology, ethos and collective unconscious that has grown from a mixture of memories, illusions, unhealed wounds and amassed frustrations within this common history. ... This past nourishes nationalist sentiment superiority and inferiority complexes among the people of Europe. ... A united Europe will never be as united as the United States of America. Its only chance is to strike an equilibrium between the nationalism of the member states and the European spirit. ... But if the European spirit is synonymous for the type of over-centralised bureaucracy and standardisation that now runs roughshod over local situations, the chances of more integration are slim."

» full article (external link, Romanian)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Mircea Cărtărescu

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, August 30, 2011