I have found this map of Europe on BigThink. It shows what a European Union with 28 equipopulous member states would look like. But the division is far from arbitrary. I have thought about redividing the EU by considering the cultural, ethnic, linguistic and historical similarities between regions since the late 1990's and this is the best map I have seen so far. It doesn't just make a lot of sense in terms of cultural affinities, but it also manages to balance all regions' populations around 17-18 millions inhabitants. Kuddos to the author, Alasdair Gunn.
The only problem with the proposed regions is that some of them would be multilingual. However that is already the case for many existing member states (Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Finland), so it is only a minor issue. Besides, some multilingual regions include closely related languages like Catalan and Occitan for the Balearic Coast, or Danish, Swedish and Dutch for the Sealand, or Portuguese and Galician for Finisterre.
Regions that have very different languages, like Italian and Greek for the Mediterranean Union, or German, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian for Danovia, have nevertheless very strong historic ties and used to be the same country, so putting them back together is not unreasonable. The hardest may be to put Slovenes and Croatians with east Italians within Adriatica, but the Veneto and coastal Croatia also used to be together for 8 centuries during the Venetian Republic.
Even if some region make sense historically, I am not sure many West Poles would be thrilled to reform Prussia with northeast Germany, even with over 400 years of recent shared history.
If Iceland and Norway joined the EU, it would allow for an even better division. Sweden would team up with Norway and Iceland instead of the east Baltic countries.
The only problem with the proposed regions is that some of them would be multilingual. However that is already the case for many existing member states (Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Finland), so it is only a minor issue. Besides, some multilingual regions include closely related languages like Catalan and Occitan for the Balearic Coast, or Danish, Swedish and Dutch for the Sealand, or Portuguese and Galician for Finisterre.
Regions that have very different languages, like Italian and Greek for the Mediterranean Union, or German, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian for Danovia, have nevertheless very strong historic ties and used to be the same country, so putting them back together is not unreasonable. The hardest may be to put Slovenes and Croatians with east Italians within Adriatica, but the Veneto and coastal Croatia also used to be together for 8 centuries during the Venetian Republic.
Even if some region make sense historically, I am not sure many West Poles would be thrilled to reform Prussia with northeast Germany, even with over 400 years of recent shared history.
If Iceland and Norway joined the EU, it would allow for an even better division. Sweden would team up with Norway and Iceland instead of the east Baltic countries.
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