I have continued to be in a mood where I ponder Europe a lot, recently, and one of the questions I’ve asked myself is “What is it that makes the EU different from a country?” Ignoring the obvious answers like “A constitution declaring itself such”, “An armed forces that is not directly answerable to its constituent states” and “Ambassadors”, I went for the obscure answer of “State mottos”. Of course, there are countries which don’t have states, and countries with states that don’t have mottos, but I think that if the EU is to be taken seriously, it needs to follow the example of the U.S. and have a motto for each state. On the other hand, perhaps it doesn’t. But in case it does, I have compiled a list of mottos for each state in the EU (including some I have misappropriated and even completely made up), which I present below.
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