Other Europeans from a European Perspective

In a constructionist frame (Potter 1996; Hall 1997), this paper explores the representation of Ukraine and Poland in Le Monde from 2014 to 2016. Although both Europeans, these two States present an interesting perspective as “some sort of others” from the perspective of a French pro-EU newspaper. Indeed, Poland, having joined the EU in 2004, is among its newest members; Ukraine is not but now and then it has manifested its interest to get closer to the EU. Articles, written by senior journalists and published from 2014 to 2016, are analysed qualitatively following Toulmin’s model of argumentation (1958). The purpose of the analysis is to look into Greimas’ semiotic square (1976) as applied to the Us / Them distinction (Tajfel, 1982). Apart from Us and Them whose representation has been often times studied (e.g. van Dijk’s ideological square, 1998), would there also be a non-Us and a non-Them in Europe from a French perspective?