Introduction: Discourses of Social and Political Transformation in the ‘New Europe’

Abstract

When in January 2003 European politics became divided over the (forthcoming) US-led invasion of Iraq, the US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld controversially spoke about ‘old Europe’ to refer to the (Western) European countries which did not want to join the US in their anti-Iraq actions. Though initially treated as just a diplomatic mistake or a slip of the tongue, Rumsfeld’s label was quickly picked up by the media in several European countries: debates started on who actually belongs to the ‘old Europe’ (in addition to France, Germany and other Western European opponents of the US), while even more intensified efforts were made to define who, in fact, could thus belong to the counter-category of the ‘new Europe’. Members of the latter were soon identified among several Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), an astonishing majority of which supported the US invasion. And, although many Western European countries (such as, for example, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy) supported the US in the 2003 invasion on an equal footing with their Central and Eastern European allies, it was only the latter who were defined as the ‘new Europe’. That label has persisted until today, contrary to that of the ‘old Europe’ which disappeared from the public debates once the intra-European divisions over the Iraq crisis calmed down.