The Abduction of Europe: A Plea for Less ‘Unionism’ and More Europe

This article claims that the development of a European super–state is undesirable and unreal. Europe has never presented itself as a single bordered entity supported by a constitution and a clear definition of Europe and non‐Europe. The contemporary forceful abduction by the European Union re‐creates Europe as a bounded political entity institutionalised through treaties and acts. It is made a socio‐political cultural construction embedded in its own created geography, history and culture. We will argue that European Union is not the same as Europe and that Europe is not a people. Europe is neither finite nor restrictive. The invention and fabrication of a bounded version of Europe leads to new forms of ‘spatial containerisation’ which carries the name of ‘Europeanization’.