Identity crisis in Europe

Somewhat related to this earlier post of mine about what it means to be Canadian, the BBC has an interesting analysis discussing what it means to be European.

...we have seen fierce debates about Turkey starting talks on EU membership, and about the flood of migrants from Africa and Asia trying to get into Europe, and about the migrant communities who are already here.

It is all about who is a European and who is not.

It is rather different on the other side of the Atlantic.

Anyone can be an American. It does not matter where you are from.

There are Japanese Americans, Lithuanian Americans, Arab Americans and so on.
...
In Europe we have British Asians, German Turks.

But note the difference.

In the US the emphasis is the other way around, they are not American Poles but Polish Americans.

Americans first and foremost, implying a sense of belonging and of acceptance which Europe sometimes struggles to emulate. I think it is because we live in a continent still trying to define its identity.

There is an ongoing identity clash between Old and New Europe. If the EU is to suvive, there needs to be a smooth transition led by an enlightened, liberal left. The alternative is a resurgent right, ghettoisation and marginalization of immigrants, and a continued tension between the poorer, often non-Christian (as in the case of Turkey) East and the rich, "originally European" West.