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I stumbled upon it on one forum and thought it was worth sharing. The article is titled
The Great European Shouting Match
and goes like this:
If Europe has one defining cultural characteristic, it is that it has none. This may sound like too neat a paradox, but it’s not that far from the truth. There is not a single state, language, religion or ethnicity that even comes close to dominating the continent as a whole - although at least one in each category at some point in history had the pretension to try (1). Europe´s war-torn history demonstrates that such diversity is, well, divisive. The European Union was designed to supersede the continent´s internecine past, and its continuing appeal (at least to those European countries still outside the EU) is the degree to which it has succeeded, inaugurating an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity (2).
But that does not imply that cultural diversity has been neutralised. The EU, lacking a unifying cultural paradigm similar to the US´s ´melting pot´, has ended up celebrating a rather bland version of multiculturalism. One example: the buildings on the euro notes are imaginary, in part to avoid fueling national chauvinisms, either of the slighted or boasting variety.
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I highly recommend going to read the article and, in particular look at the maps of Europe as particular countries perceive it. For example:
Europe in the eyes of Germans
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....even though my husband was a bit irritated! 