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Originally Posted by milo
I disagree the EU treaties that exist don't seem to support a predominant 'cultural' theme.
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The EU treaties may not (although the Copenhagen treaty does mention the prerequisites for any
European country wishing to join). But I'd suggest that it's an assumed - in the same way that the UN charter presumes you're not from Mars, say.
Anyway I was referring to the historical development of the project. This is not a project which was based primarily on economic grounds - France and Germany didn't one day decide they'd achieve greater synergy in their coal and steel markets if they moved to integration - it was a specific response to the conflicts in their recent past and was an attempt to make war impossible. I'd argue that there was a strong element of "shared cultural history" which is taken to be the common values of the European nations. When early speakers mentioned a family of European nations and collective desitnies I'd suggest these terms were not chosen by accident.
You might of course find this a disgusting basis for forming a political union, but that doesn't necessarily change anything.
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both countries after all have shared history with europe.
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There's not much of the world that hasn't been involved with European's thanks to the colourful foriegn policies persued by some of our ancestors. I mean, if you include states who speak a European language / were occupied by Europeans / are the descendents of European colonists then I guess China is pretty much the sizeable region you could exclude.
I will repeat, I do not care which countries join the EU, but I would advise those wishing to analyse the situation rationally (especially re : Turkish membership) consider the merest possibility that cultural/racist attitudes contribute beyond the familiar arguments on human rights or economics.
Additionally, I would say that I doubt how Moroccan's (or Turks, or whomever) feel about "being European" has much to do with the desire by some in joining the EU. Certainly from the little I've read, it's much more motivated by economics (which personally I'd prefer as a motivator).