Redefining Europe to mean something other than the geographical location is a very bad habit of the pro-EU contingent. The EU institutions do this all the time but they aren't the only offenders, which is how Eurovision ends up including Australia and Israel. These people seem to really hate that Europe is a geographically defined landmass (which includes Russia), and would much rather it be a social construct reflecting a specific set of cultural values.

But I guess "EU/EFTA Alternatives" is not as snappy.

Your comment about Eurovision is simply wrong. The countries participating, with the exception of Australia, are all current or prior members of a European Broadcasting Union. The event was devised as content and when Israel joined the broadcasting organization they got the opportunity to pay to participate. Australia is involved because they requested participation as the event is massively popular there.

Europe is a political concept more than it is a geography. Copenhagen and Berlin are tied together by law. Moscow and Berlin are not. Saying “Europe” in this context without reference to politics is meaningless. There is borderless trade within the EU but not with the UK. That is a fundamental difference and just one example.

I don't get it. How is my comment about Eurovision wrong when you then immediately agree with what I just said? It calls itself the European Broadcasting Union and the Eurovision song contest, but as you clearly agree, its membership rules have nothing to do with being in Europe.

Europe is quite obviously not a political concept. It's an ancient word that always has and always will mean a geographical area. You're repeating the exact behavior we are openly criticizing in this thread. Misusing language in that way is not only a cheap attempt to manipulate and socially engineer populations, but actively divisive. This thread is a perfect example. Europe hasn't managed to produce many Google competitors, but there's one in the UK and now the people who run it are hurt and upset because they were excluded from a list that claims to represent all of Europe, but in reality the list is some sort of ideological construct defined by political allegiances.

I really don't think self-proclaimed "European citizens" realize how much damage they do to the continent with this approach. It's not just the UK, I live in Switzerland and these games get noticed here too. Many problems are geographical in nature (war, famine, energy, immigration etc). Europe could use as much collaboration as it can get. Alienating some of the continent's most successful countries is the worst way to bring that about.