The article explores how enlargement of the European Union has affected the development of the European public sphere. At the initial stage of enlargement, communication between the 'old' and 'new' democracies was hampered by prejudice and estrangement from the western side and illusionary expectations from the eastern side. Different historical experiences after the Second World War had raised barriers to mutual understanding. While experiences of 'building capitalism' brought post-Communist nations closer to the values of the European welfare society, the eastwards enlargement at the same time strengthened the influence of identity politics among the 'old' democracies of Europe. As a result, there is now less difference between the 'old' and 'new' members of the EU than was expected at the beginning of the enlargement process. The new members of the EU are even more interested in the development of the European public sphere than are many people in the West, because they see in this process their chance to be included in the European communication space as equal members. In order to reach this goal, the process of 'horizontal integration' between national public spheres and the development of the common social imaginary of the new Europe is considered to be very important.

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This article adopts a cultural approach in order to provide an empirical grounding to the multidimensional concept of media generations. Data from the representative survey 'Me. The World. The Media', conducted in autumn 2011 among members of the Estonian population aged 15-74 (N=1510), are used to map similarities and distinctions among four age groups with regard to the use of media technologies and channels, format and topic preferences, spatial orientations of media use, and attitudes towards the Internet. The findings demonstrate significant and multifaceted differences between the age cohorts, suggesting that in addition to the ascent of new media technologies, broader social and cultural changes need to be considered in interpreting generational groups' relations with the media. The study partially confirms the hypothesis that media experiences shared with members of another media generation are related to a weaker perception of inter-generational gaps. All 15-29 30-44 45-59 60-74 ß p ß p ß p ß p ß p Watching TV (frequency and versatility)

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