01.01.70
That still leaves honestly some wriggle room between concept and continent, which by some estimates [2] includes as many as 51 countries. For those in between, the dissension is clear and uncontested. Even non-European Union members like Switzerland and Croatia, penny-pinching to the continent’s geographic core, will readily admit that they’re outside “Europe” (but only if you register the quotation marks). The interesting difference is that the Swiss overall are jubilant to remain outside, while the Croats generally can’t wait for July 2013, when they’re slated to ally the Union.
This gap in Euro-euphoria is a symptom of a curious kaleidoscopic trait of this supranational “Europe”: Everybody is looking at the same item, but everybody sees something different. For the Swiss, who have a long history of non-alignment (and a shorter one of being confidently fat), joining “Europe” would entail few benefits. By set off, for the non-“European” remainder on the Balkans [3] , similarly encircled by colleague states, joining would be almost more of a moral vindication than an economic relief. Like the countries of the former Eastern Bloc before them, membership would bind their Europeanness.
Source: New York Times (blog)