An EU promotional video released almost a decade ago, compares individual EU countries to aspiring members. France is linked to Serbia, with scenes from Belgrade that supposedly resemble Paris. Italy is linked to Bosnia and Herzegovina, doubtless because of a fondness for grandma’s home cooking, while Sweden is for some reason linked to Montenegro. The UK is paired with the then former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (today’s North Macedonia), seemingly bound by their respective fondness for statues. The remaining associations are somewhat more predictable for largely historical reasons – Spain and Kosovo (the former refusing to recognise the independence of the latter), Germany and Turkey, Austria and Croatia, and Greece and Albania.
The video ends with the tagline “so similar, so different, so European”; though the video itself only portrays – or contrives – the similarities. The differences are presumably so self-evident that they do not require further elucidation. Nor does it really matter, since all are “so European”.
Whether intended to strengthen the morale of those aspiring to join the EU, or to persuade those within the Union that they have nothing to fear from further enlargement (or indeed both), the advert constitutes one of the flashier examples of attempts to construct a notion of solidarity between those inside and outside the EU.
