Europe – Delving into the continent’s internal turmoil

By Alice Meredith- Wales

The European Union (EU) was created to unite a divided continent after WW2. In the words of  British Journalist and Author Tim Marshall, “the organisation aimed to create a ‘borderless’, unified Europe”, which undoubtedly was and still is an honourable mission. However, the idea of a united Europe is plagued with many fault lines that fundamentally contribute to a divided continent. These divides have proven to challenge this idea of a united Europe and often falls victim to modern tensions and challenges.

Arguably the primary division within the EU is ideology. The organisation aims to unite 27 different countries under one collective ideology and identity. This means uniting complex and different cultures, religions, societies, economies, governments and more. Tribal values and the idea of belonging to a specific nation run extremely deeply within these countries. Hence, the continent is somewhat fractured in this regard, as there are countless borders drawn signifying the end of one people and the beginning of another. It is almost impossible to visualise how these 27 different states can harmoniously form a single collective body,let alone a nation-state of Europeans. Nationalism plays a foundational role in these shards of ideological and cultural division.

Take Italy, for example. After the country’s unification in 1861,Piedmontese-Italian statesman, Massimo d’Azeglio stated “We have made Italy; now we must make Italians”. This statement highlights the challenge of overcoming such an instinct- to create a nation. The difficulty the EU faces is it aims to unite 27 different countries, under the umbrella of the European Union. It aims to create Europeans: a united population of its own, but Europe is made up of numerous juxtaposing cultures. One could question whether these divisions, emphasised by the explicit borders drawn on the European map, are too great to overcome in creating one Europe.  With each country having different needs, opinions, and national interests.

Serving as a microcosm for nationalism-driven divisions, take the collapse of Yugoslavia. Nationalism of the different peoples (including Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs) defied the communist government controlling the country. These nationalistic spurs contributed significantly to the collapse of the country. This event clearly highlights the challenge of collectively uniting different peoples under one single ideology and identity. Therefore, the EU is fundamentally divided when one looks at the nationalistic identities of the nations that make up Europe.

Europe is also divided economically. Although the EU does benefit from operating as a single market with one currency,the euro (established in 1999), there are problems that have  arisen as a result of the divisions present within this system. One of the main issues is that there are lots of different countries ,(therefore, different economies), using the same currency. This causes the euro to fluctuate disturbingly within the world markets, as well as resulting in the creation of  economic winners and losers: one of the biggest being Greece. Greece suffered severely during the 2010 Euro Crisis and contributed to its cause.

So, how did the Euro crisis actually begin? One primal cause is various countries got into extortionate levels of government debt, and one of those countries was Greece. During 2001, countries within the EU were happy for Greece’s government to borrow money, giving Greece initial financial support. Unfortunately, Greece had a fundamentally weak economy and high unemployment, which meant that when debates arose around whether Greece should pay its extremely high levels of debt back to other EU members, a crisis began. Here lies the issue- Europe was unwilling to pay for Greece’s excessive borrowing. This explicitly highlights that the EU was not close enough as member states were not willing to help each other out in the times of an economic crisis.

If you were to apply this issue to the US, which is made up of numerous states: states with higher average incomes such as New York contribute to funding for service benefits (such as healthcare) in states with lower average incomes such as Kentucky. Within America, states identify as being part of a collective USA, economically, so they are willing to, and the system allows for states to contribute to other states’ services. America is homogenous, with a cohesive economy and one main language. However, the EU is not homogenous, does not share one language, and is not one entire economy when you look at the many countries that make up Europe. Therefore, the EU is arguably also  fractured economically.

Another division within Europe is political, specifically defence spending within NATO. This year, Spain’s exemption from the 5% NATO defence spending target showed the different military priorities within the continent. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated that the target was “incompatible with our world view”, which clearly highlights the difference in defence priorities. Contrastingly, countries spending the most on defence within Europe ,(so not including America), have borders with Russia, for example Poland spent 4.1% of its GDP on defence in 2024. This distinctly shows that the geographical expanse of Europe affects its collective priorities. NATO is an alliance based on collective security to defend Europe against Russia. However, countries within Europe are threatened by varying degrees, geographically speaking. This is because nations on the other end of the continent are not as willing to pay for a threat that is more severe for others closer to the Russian border; however, all nations are willing to be part of a collective security-based organisation. Therefore, Spain’s exemption shows that Europe is also politically and militarily divided, due to the vast and complex nature of the continent.

The potential rewards of a united Europe are extensive, and no one can ignore the benefits of having a single market and free movement, to name a couple. However, it is hard to overcome the significant divisions and disparities Europe faces. Factors such as human nature and geography challenge the ideal of a united Europe, both of which are almost impossible to dramatically change in our lifetimes. It can therefore be suggested that the divisions within Europe are too entrenched within; hence, making it a nearly impossible task to establish a continent that is free of such divisions.

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