The European Union and International Governance: Still on the Path to a Global Power?

The European Union represents an artificial construct built on the same pattern of formation of the nation states, being defined as „the imaginary political community of Europe (McNamara, 2011). The dynamic evolution of the European Union from an economic entity to a supranational political entity continues to draw a series of critics due to the fact that it represents „an unusual entity, whose principles and constitutional status are ambiguous and incomplete (Ericksen and Fossum, 2004, p.436). This article investigates: on the one hand, the way in which the process of globalisation and the emergence of the European project have changed the relationship between the nation-state and its citizens; and, on the other hand, the EU’s relationship with it’s most important stakeholders and supporters: young Europeans. This article seeks to offer, from the perspective of young Romanians, a complex approach concerning the EU’s role in global governance on an economic, social, political and security level.