Western Europe Besides the Olympic Games in London, the European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine is the major sport event of 2012. It fascinated football fans all over the Globe; the TV- ratings exceeded the 100 million viewers limit by far. Of course, some games traditionally evoke more emotions than others, as we are speaking of „sporting rivalry“: France vs. England, the Netherlands vs. Germany or Germany vs. England just to give you a few examples. What is at the bottom of this rivalry? Generally the answer might be simply just „ambition“, because that is what sports and competitions are all about. But if we take a closer look, we can find other reasons: history, for instance. Throughout history there has been traditionally a long-lasting enmity between the countries mentioned above. Especially the countries of Western Europe used to be previously united in mutual hostility rather than diversity. The World War II marked a tragic peak in the long story of war and violence. Taking this background into consideration it is quite surprising that almost all of the EU founding members are located in the Western parts of the continent. In 1951, only six years after World War II had come to an end, the hereditary enemies France and Germany were the goading nations promoting the establishment of the „European Coal and Steel Community“. Together with Belgium, the Dutch Kingdom, Luxembourg and Italy they took the first
step towards a united and thus peaceful Europe. And still at the present days the French-German relationship is considered to be the engine accelerating European integration. The election of Mr. Hollande as the new president of the Republic of France is considered to have slowed down this engine, even observers from other continents have warned about the possible consequences a slump in the French German relation would have in Europe. This fear underlines the extreme importance of Western Europe, which can be seen as a precursor of a common European internal market. Additionally, West Europe is the most powerful and richest part of Europe. With the United Kingdom and France having the veto power in the UN Security Council, Germany being the third most successful trading nation and London being one of the most important financial centres of the world, Europe without Western Europe would not be able to compete with the US, China or India. Nevertheless the West European economic wealth increasingly correlates with East Europe´s economic development. But West Europe is not exclusively about history, politics and economy. It is also meant to be a community of common values. Until the fall of the Iron curtain that divided Europe into two different worlds, Western Europe was meant to be a community based on democratic and liberal values, always threatened by the communism. ISSUE #3 | The Regions | page 7