Being a European (even though I study in the US), I was interested to see the opinions of both sides for the word Europe. In general I saw many words like historic, culture etc. One thing that I found interesting however is that not many Americans included anything related to the European Union (I think only two responses). On the other hand many French students associated Europe immediately with the Union.

Being another European in the US (though Eastern Europe has a very different economic situation than western Europe), I found it interesting than no one said anything negative about Europe. For both Americans and Europeans it seems to be the epicenter of culture.

Being yet another European in the US, I found the French comments about the European Union very interesting. The responses were generally very positive; there were words like cooperation, ideal opportunity. In Britain, where I live, the responses to such a question would be more mixed. There seems to be much more euro-skepticism in the UK than in France.

Is there any significant criticism of the EU in France, or do all the major political parties competely support continued integration?

well, we voted against the european constitution... (referendum)

Haha, being from the United States, I'd have to say that I was 100% unsurprised with most of the commentary coming from the American side of the forum for this topic. Often, the things we learn about Europe in our history classes as we go through school highlights the age of European nations and how these nations affected progress and culture in other places over time-- especially in the United States. As a result, we're definitely very taken by European culture, especially when we visit and see the things we learned about first-hand.