The article reveals the cultural archetype problem as a component of socio-cultural invariance as a factor influencing the economic and social development of the countries of the European Union. The purpose of the study is to identify those archetypes that have the most significant impact on the socio-economic development of the regions of the European Union. The article presents the results of an empirical study of cultural archetypes characteristic of societies in different European countries.

The materials of the study were expert assessments obtained as a result of a survey conducted on the social network Twitter among the expert community of leading European universities.

The research methodology is based on an integrated interdisciplinary approach. Based on the results of the empirical study, the following results were obtained: as the main archetypes in the countries of Southern Europe, experts identified the archetype «life is a dream»; in the countries of Western Europe – «life is work»; for the countries of Eastern Europe, the most characteristic, according to experts, is the archetype «life is a struggle». All of these archetypes are decisive for the socio-economic development of the countries of the respective European regions