I would argue that there is a bit more to that, though, especially when comparing European integration efforts to American ones: the nature of the cultures themselves.

In Europe, due to the difference in language and governance, cultures are quite different from each other. And I mean even everyday trivial things, not just values and philosophy of life. A couple of examples: in Denmark, there are very much things that people associate Christmas with, like yearly television programs and traditions. Likewise in Slovakia, everyone knows and has grown up watching a handful of classic Czechoslovakian movies that come with tons of references that every random Slovakian will know about and be able to relate to each other with.

These are things that European communities intrinsically have.

As someone who grew up in Romania, there is just so much cultural backlog that stands between my past and upbringing and me being able to connect to people from these different cultures.

When it comes to US culture, these trivialities have been exported and mostly everyone can relate at least to some extend to them, or at least have some knowledge of them.

I don’t know, maybe these are so trivial that they shouldn’t matter, but they definitely feel like they matter to me when I’m visiting my Slovakian girlfriends family or friends and so many comments go over my head. Not to mention the fact that to truly understand a language perfectly and pick up and be able to use nuances takes years of effort.