Are you a European?

Blush_01

The aftermath of the whole Lisbon thing has been pretty shocking or hilarious, depending on your sense of humour. One thing it's made me wonder though is whether you consider yourself to be a European or not. Personally, the ability to call myself a European is not something that even registered as significant until I asked some friends and they were divided on whether it was important to them or not.

So, whaddaya think?

Rob_l

I have no opinion on this subject at all
I believe im Irish does this affect my european status

Latchy

The irish sea and the english channel has a lot to do with the peoples of these island feeling less european than their mainland european neighbours ,that's one thing the irsh and brits have in common ,a deep fear of being controlled by others and losing their cultural identity.Two island races who have more in common with each other than they ' somtimes ' like to admit

My passport telles me i am both irish and european

KnifeWRENCH

I am Irish. Ireland is in Europe. Therefore I am also European.
The people of Norway are European. The people of Switzerland/Croatia/other countries in Europe but not in the E.U. , are all European.

Perhaps your question needs rephrasing?

Latchy

You also have to remember the irish who live abroad to OP .

We are all your a peeing

toiletduck

I don't subscribe to any idea of being part of a "European Identity". We're closer to Boston and Birmingham than Brussels :pac:

tracker-man

what the op means i think, is do you feel you are a european, part of europe. Do you feel as proud to be a european as you do irish. Personaly i do. I am glad to be irish and glad to be european.

Blush_01

While technically those from Europe are European, I don't feel in any way affiliated with Europe, the "mainland" if you will. I don't see myself as being European, rather I am an Irish person, any links to Europe feel more accidental than anything else. I don't identify myself as being part of a wider European group, there's no sense of connection there and definitely no sense of community or communal pride.

brianthebard

kinda irish,kinda martian.the european identity is a myth imo.
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Latchy

I wonder is it more confusing for northern uniniosts now that they are also european as well as irish/british ?

RayM

I don't feel proud to be either Irish or European. I don't understand how anybody could be proud of something in which happened via fluke, rather than achievement. I identify with being Irish far more than European though. I'd like to feel more European, but it's not really something that I find easy to identify with. And I reckon there are probably a few hundred million other Europeans who feel similarly. Which is why I can't ever see any kind of European 'superstate' working properly - at least not in the same way as the United States of America.

rossie1977

irish first, roscommon second or maybe its the other way round

i seriously doubt any irish person would say they are european if asked by a stranger

wtf is europe anyway, is turkey in europe or is it in asia, is israel in europe, is russia in europe

Blush_01

Only for Eurovision purposes.

Latchy

My sister born and bread in dublin has lived in hollond for over 30 years ,married a dutchman and obiously speaks the lingo .As much as she loves her irish roots ,she would consider herself to be more dutch ( as opposed to european ) now than irish ,even with duel nationality .

pickarooney

We'll all be European when someone picks a war with us or if Europe is the finals of something.

Rob_l

pickarooney wrote: »

We'll all be European when someone picks a war with us or if Europe is the finals of something.

the ryder cup

Dave!

I'm both Irish and European. I do not have any strong feelings about being either. That's just the way it is.

rossie1977

latchyco wrote: »

My sister born and bread in dublin has lived in hollond for over 30 years ,married a dutchman and obiously speaks the lingo .As much as she loves her irish roots ,she would consider herself to be more dutch ( as opposed to european ) now than irish ,even with duel nationality .

my aunt is the same, born in the bogs of roscommon, moved over to manchester about 35 years ago now thinks of herself as english has the accent and all, my dad is the opposite he left donegal 50 years ago as a teen but still would never consider himself to be anything but a donegal man

Bob the Builder

I'll have an Irish breakfast with european ketchup. Being a part of the EU is just a saucy thing you can brag about the odd time. It's the rashers and sausages that make the breakfast.

Latchy

rossie1977 wrote: »

my aunt is the same, born in the bogs of roscommon, moved over to manchester about 35 years ago now thinks of herself as english has the accent and all, my dad is the opposite he left donegal 50 years ago as a teen but still would never consider himself to be anything but a donegal man

I suppose many might find themselfs caught in that situation like my sister and your aunt .It's an identity thing specialy if you have lived outside your native country for so many years .In my own case i could never consider myself nothing other than irish and have no problem with the european tag either

Rob_l

I have discovered my opinion on this subject I feel european when I can cruise through the european citizens sections in airports

Ruu_Old

Never thought of myself as a European.

Irishtrekkie

Proud Irish , and Proud European (being of dual nationality Irish/Italian (Irish mum, Italian dad, born and bread in dublin but spend alot of time in Italy , andwith family in france , england and other countries in Europe and a german gf i guess i am living the European dream

Mweelrea

Blush_01 wrote: »

Only for Eurovision purposes.

Kazahkstan were in the Euro 08 qualifiers as were numerous other asian countries that are miles from europe.

Personally i'm irish and have no affinity for europe at all

nyarlothothep

although I don't define myself through culturally constructed identities related to place, I would be somewhat proud to align myself to Europe, which, in my opinion, represents as a collective entity one of the most, if not the most, advanced civilizations in the world.

Beer is Life

Ruu wrote: »

Never thought of myself as a European.

On the contrary, ive always felt an affinity for Europe and the idea of being both Irish and European. I like European culture, history, people and suprisingly I love the climate!

dfx-

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I would be somewhat proud to align myself to Europe, which, in my opinion, represents as a collective entity one of the most, if not the most, advanced civilizations in the world.

Similar to me. I'd consider myself European equally as Irish, tbh.

JC 2K3

I like Ireland, I identify as Irish. I don't feel any connection with continental Europe and I'm not hugely admiring of any aspect of their culture. So I wouldn't identify as European in the slightest.

WooPeeA

I feel more as citizen of this world, equal to others. Not better, not worst.

But voted From another European country and European., as it's the closest to my identify.

Pride Fighter

Im half martian half saturnian:)

rossie1977

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Im half martian half saturnian:)

the earths closeness to the sun compared with saturn must really mean you tan quickly

BraziliaNZ

In reality being Irish is just a poor man's British, look the same, same language, same culture... I'd rather be affiliated with Europe than Britain to be honest, but it's never going to happen. When people in America and Australia etc. think of Ireland they think of Guinness, Braveheart, Stonehenge, Leprechauns, the Commonwealth etc. etc. they just group us all together, because we're so similar. EU passports ftw.

robby^5

The way I look at this is we refer to people from Asia as Asian, but If you ask a someone from Japan if they are Japanese or Asia I'd think they'd say Japanese, Or a Canadian if they are (North) American.

I'm a citizen of the EU, but I'm Irish not European.

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

In reality being Irish is just a poor man's British, look the same, same language, same culture...

You know f*ck all about being Irish then.

JC 2K3

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

I'd rather be affiliated with Europe than Britain to be honest

Try to explain why, truthfully, without reference to the fact that it's because you're Irish.

And if you can't, then there's one distnctive Irish trait for you.

BraziliaNZ

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Try to explain why, truthfully, without reference to the fact that it's because you're Irish.

Jade Goody

thefinalstage

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Jade Goody

*BOOM* head shot.

JC 2K3

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Jade Goody

Touché.

Latchy

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

In reality being Irish is just a poor man's British, look the same, same language, same culture... I'd rather be affiliated with Europe than Britain to be honest,

The irony is britain is also part of europe

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Jade Goody

The Jade goodys of this world are everywere, even in ireland

Steve_o

I'm Half Laois, half Irish, half European.... the maths is astonishing!!!:D

ScumLord

I'll always be Irish first and foremost but I had great fun backpacking around Europe as an EU citizen and taking full advantage of being European. While I was out there though I never felt more Irish.

I don't think you have to be one or the other. Your nationality makes you a good European.

ART6

To me one's nationality is to live in a particular geographical region, to speak the same language and keep to the same culture. It is to have affinity for one's people and country. I cannot be European when Europe is not a country or a single culture, and I don't want it to become a federal state of which I must then be a citizen. I am happy in my little pile of sh*t.

I wonder if the French, Germans, Dutch, Danish people etc think of themselves a European? No evidence that they do as far as I can see. The difference between the EU and the USA is that the latter is the world's second oldest democracy and it has had time and a civil war to sort itself out and to adopt a common culture and (main) language. Maybe one day Europe will achieve that. Then the French will perhaps think of themselves as being residents of the state called "France" and citizens of the country called Europe. But it took the USA 400 years to get to that. It didn't get there over 7 years and a couple of referenda.

ScumLord

ART6 wrote: »

The difference between the EU and the USA is that the latter is the world's second oldest democracy and it has had time and a civil war to sort itself out and to adopt a common culture and (main) language. Maybe one day Europe will achieve that. Then the French will perhaps think of themselves as being residents of the state called "France" and citizens of the country called Europe.

I don't think that will ever happen with Europe and it's not the intention of the EU anyway. No European wants to lose their culture they just want to live to the highest European standards. It's all about harmony between our different cultures not creating a new country.

titan18

I'm European first and Irish second.Even though I am born and raised Irish,I have no affiliation to this country

panda100

pickarooney wrote: »

We'll all be European when someone picks a war with us.

Perhaps being 'European' is how wars start,when you divide the world into terrotorial divisions such as Europe,US or China etc.

Im a citizen of the world.I have the same allegiance to a french faremer as I do to a Chinese farmer.

brianthebard

ART6 wrote: »

The difference between the EU and the USA is that the latter is the world's second oldest democracy and it has had time and a civil war to sort itself out and to adopt a common culture and (main) language. Maybe one day Europe will achieve that. Then the French will perhaps think of themselves as being residents of the state called "France" and citizens of the country called Europe. But it took the USA 400 years to get to that. It didn't get there over 7 years and a couple of referenda.

Not really, the difference is that the USA was established as a group of colonies first, then asserted their independance, then went through over a century of establishing itself as a single entity as the population grew. People left one part of the world and became part of another. They dropped their Irish/German/French/Chinese identity and became ...-american. That isn't going to happen in Europe.

ART6

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't think that will ever happen with Europe and it's not the intention of the EU anyway. No European wants to lose their culture they just want to live to the highest European standards. It's all about harmony between our different cultures not creating a new country.

Surely the whole point of the European Constitution was to establish Europe as a nation? If it has it's own flag, national anthem, government, military etc, doesn't that make it a nation? In any case I wasn't suggesting that it will happen. I was simply theorising that at some time in the future it could, if the people, as did the Americans, finally grew out of individual nationalities and saw them selves as citizens of the country called "Europe". I agree that isn't going to happen any time soon since, as I said, there is no evidence that the French, Germans, etc want to be other than French or Germans.

brianthebard wrote: »

Not really, the difference is that the USA was established as a group of colonies first, then asserted their independance, then went through over a century of establishing itself as a single entity as the population grew. People left one part of the world and became part of another. They dropped their Irish/German/French/Chinese identity and became ...-american. That isn't going to happen in Europe.

OK. A group of colonies. Wouldn't that have been the effect of the failed EU Constitution? To some extent we would all have become colonies of Europe, or at least districts of it rather than independant nations in every respect. The Americans asserted their independance from Britain and France, so the EU doesn't need to go through that stage. Yes, immigrants to the USA adopted that as their country, but they had little choice in the matter. EU residents do have a choice at the moment. My point (again) was that in a couple of hundred years that might change and they may elect to become European nationals rather than French or German. If so I have no problem with that and would see some sense in the United States of Europe when we all speak the same language and have adopted a relatively common culture. However, I suspect that people throughtout the EU are uneasy about the move to federalism at the moment. It's just too early.

JP Liz

I'm Irish