The idea of a nation-state was conceived in Europe and the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity (solidarity) are the result of the French Revolution. Today Europe is trying to unite its nation-states on these ideals. The European Union is a unique and original project because it is an attempt to build a union through political and economic institutions between different peoples and nations without having to diminish their power and sovereignty. How can a nation state retain its sovereignty and power in the European Union or in the global context? Market mechanisms have no limits because no borders for capital exist. The mechanisms of social systems still end at the existing, but long-ago outgrown (because of special interests) borders. The European Union wants to make a union but it also wants to retain the nation-state. With this assumption I will attempt to perceive the status of ideas and the experience of (social) solidarity within the EU.
