Teaching the EU to Europeans: How Can “old” and “new” Europe be Brought Together?

Fuchs, Eileen and van der Hout, Robin. (2005) Teaching the EU to Europeans: How Can “old” and “new” Europe be Brought Together? [Review Essay]

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Abstract

[Introduction]. Not long ago European leaders celebrated the unification of their continent beneath the Athens Acropolis.1 The signing of the Constitution for Europe2 is a milestone of a development which started more than fifteen years ago with the unexpected fall of the Berlin Wall and the German reunification. All European countries - but especially those in the East of the continent - have hence been going through exciting and sometimes troubling times. After the recent events in the Ukraine it appears to be evident that these times are not over yet.3 A “Unified Europe,” meaning the enlarged European Union4 is not yet being proclaimed by EU leaders, and few European citizens feel ready to give their full consent to this. Moreover, public opinion polls clearly show that only a slight minority regards themselves as being simply “Europeans”. Indeed, most Europeans agree to be European only beside their “true” nationality, i.e., for example, German, Dutch or Irish. Overall, the spread of Euro-skepticism has become especially obvious in the negative outcome of the referenda on the European Constitution held in France and the Netherlands. The question is whether and how these attitudes about the Europe and its future impact the teaching of European students from both East and West.

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