How creating the EU was written in our DNA

How to gain a deeper knowledge of the EU and find new opportunities

Let’s do a game: the first step is replying to the question “do you constantly feel ‘European’?”.

You probably said “always”, maybe “only sometimes” or… even “it never crossed my mind”! Now, the rules of our game are pretty simple: keep in mind the answer you whispered and we guarantee that at the end of the article, if you check the left pocket of your jeans, you will find a plane ticket to the city of your dreams! Well, let’s stop joking, but now for real: notice how your answer will have changed by the time you have finished reading these lines: you will either discover that founding the EU is literally written in our DNA, or immediately after reading the article you will apply for internships or traineeships for next year, or -we hope- you will be galvanised by the same wonderful enthusiasm we have for being an active part of the Union.

Why is creating the EU written in our DNA?

Why should Europe exist? Is man really made to live in harmony with others? In fact, the English philosopher Hobbes said “homo homini lupus” (from his book “Leviathan”) or “man is a wolf to man”. To give an example, think of people competing for the same job position. Nevertheless, perhaps this is not the right attitude to have towards life: after all, we are not animals engaged in a dramatic struggle for survival. In fact, several Latin dramatic writers from the 3rd-2nd century BC, such as Caecilius Statius, used to say “homo homini Deus”, i.e. ‘man is a God to other man’: just notice how beneficial the support of a friend in a difficult situation can be, or simply the smile of our father after a long time we do not see him, or the embrace of our loved ones: everyone can be a ray of sunshine for someone else and helping people literally creates mutual happiness and well-being. To sum up, are we wolves or gods to others? The English empiricist Hume pondered this when explaining the concept of ‘sympathy’ by analysing its Greek etymology: ‘syn’ (=with) and ‘pathos’ (=pain); he wanted to explain that when we suffer, we tend to suffer ‘with’ others, and the aspect that distinguishes a human from an animal is precisely this propensity to feel emotions together. Incredibly, this also has a scientific substratum: we are made to share and this is not just a sophisticated syllogism or a philosophical assumption, our DNA speaks for itself: we are talking about the discovery of ‘mirror neurons’. In fact, have you ever felt the propensity to cry when you see a friend crying desperately? Well, this happens because of this particular type of neurons that are involved in a kind of imitative resonance: when we feel pain we tend to feel it together, when we jump for joy we tend to do it together. All in all, Aristotle was right when he said that man is a “social animal” and those who live apart from others are either beasts or supernatural gods.

Forecasting the EU … 200 years ago

Indeed, together we are stronger and the compelling dream of building a union of states has always wandered in the minds of scholars and artists, a crystal clear example being that of Victor Hugo, a French writer who predicted exactly what is happening now with the EU: it was 21 August 1849 and he was at the Paris Peace Conference: “A day will come when you France, you Italy, you England, you Germany, you all, nations of the continent, without losing your distinct qualities and your glorious individuality, will be closely fused into a higher unity and will form the European brotherhood.” This represents one of the first startling announcements of a ‘European’ dream. “A day will come when the only battlefields will be the markets that open up to trade and the minds that open up to ideas”. there was something absolutely futuristic about these statements, which are a sign of sui generis foresight.
Finally, ‘A day will come when bullets will be replaced by votes, and bombs by the universal suffrage of the people’. Never had something so tolerant been heard: imagining each vote as a small metaphorical bullet intended to break down the door closing new opportunities and suffrage as a poetic explosion of freedom.
In a nutshell, realising that Hugo foresaw all this 200 years ago should make us more aware of the riches we now have: no bombs, no wars, just votes, which should literally be used with the same care as handling a gun. Thus, Hugo’s words could encourage us to appreciate the existence of the Union and perhaps put our hearts into being an active part of it. But how?

How can you actually help and be helped in the EU?

In actuality, associations like ours, the European Youth Parliament, are surely great ways to raise awareness among young Europeans and the whole Generation Z: young people should grow in a culturally rich environment, open to cosmopolitism and used to the idea of sharing, because just this will educate new citizens to the real meaning of “politics”, which should be always linked with its Greek derivation: “polis” (=city, society) and “techné” (=art) in the sense that politics is literally an art, the art of enhancing the common good. Let’s describe now some opportunities that the EU can give you, because we all should notice that the Union is not static burocracy and paperwork, but is a fertile field of growth which tries to stimulate the youth empowerment. How is this possible? Let’s see first and foremost the online portals “What Europe does for me”, “Together.eu”, “Citizens app” and then associations like EYP, also ESN; so, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty now.

• What Europe does for me : It is a website available in more than 20 languages which is divided in three sections:

1. “In my region”: you can find a lot of information and curiosities about all the regions of the EU plus a report of all the projects the EU is carrying out there (you can also download a pdf document of it!). For instance, did you know about the Meteo Wine project? It is funded by the EU and takes place especially in the Italian region of Umbria: its goal is to produce healthier wine by reducing the use of plant protection products and introducing innovative methods for forecasting and verifying meteorological conditions.
2. “In my life”: you can browse through more than a dozen of subsets, e.g.my future, my free time, my health, my security, my education and so on. For example, if you click on “my job”, you can find a wide variety of tips about your future job and guidelines about how to start preparing yourself, or traineeships to attend, e.g. in the category “film makers” you can have access to all the film festivals websites. You can also download pdf or listen to the section through MP3 files (so this could be also an excellent EU topic-based language listening practice, depending on the language you choose in the settings).
3. “In focus”: you can read about 25 “hot topics” of the moment, e.g. fight against terrorism, unemployment, migration and so forth. What is more, you can also click on the button “podcast” and listen to a more detailed audio file on Youtube!

• Together.eu : in order to use this website a simple registration is required, where you will indicate the topics that interest you the most, so that you will receive selected news by email. Plus, you can pick out a country and see all the online conferences concerning it (in its language) and you can actually subscribe, participate and ask questions! Sometimes there are even European Parliamentarians in the events and you can hear their opinions without the filters of mass medias.
• Citizens’ app: it is the official app for every EU citizen and you can read about the latest news concerning EU, sign up for the events happening here and there (e.g. the “European Parliament Walking Tours” from May to September 2021 in Belgium) and, using a special section (“Ask EP”), send questions to the European Parliament: our “European Union” is much nearer to us than we think and talking to them is not a pie-in-the-sky!
• EYP & ESN : until now we talked about websites, but there are also a lot of opportunities to seize locally! EYP is the European Youth Parliament: after a process of application, if you get selected you can become a member and participate in loads of events — such as simulations of real EP meetings and debates around Europe: time management, problem solving but especially team working skills are required! Instead, ESN (“Erasmus Student Network”) is an international student association whose aim is giving welcome and support to Erasmus Students during their mobility programme, which is, again, something almost entirely financed by the EU. In particular, by the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework), a seven-year long programme to regulate annual budgets. For the period 2021–2027 it will consist of 1000 billion euros (plus 750 billion ones for the “Next Generation EU”, aka “Recovery Plan” for the CoVid-19 emergency) and among the 7 aims of the MFF there is cohesion, which includes the 34,5% of all the budget and involves Erasmus projects, too. When it comes to ESN sections, almost each city around Europe has got one or more and members usually organize projects concerning categories as “Culture” (e.g. Language exchange events, City Tours), “Health” (e.g. planning work-outs all together), “Social Inclusion” (e.g. inviting guests to give talks to raise awareness about disability and tolerance), “Environmental sustainability” (e.g. helping in cleaning public green areas), “Education and Youth”, “Employability”. The beauty of this non-profit association (the only Erasmus-related one officially recognised by the EU) consists in the fact that every member will find him/herself merged with a complete cosmopolitan community: discovering myriad of other countries’ traditions and mindsets will surely represent a chance of opening up your mind; so everyone will get to the conclusion that cultural differences must be celebrated, because they equal to cultural richness. Moreover, being active part of ESN then will be an incredible experience for the human side: on the very first day of the international students’ arrival, or during the very first events, a group of young people who are simply strangers to each other will have to be welcomed and in that moment team-building must be the priority, since the mission of each ESNer is to act as a glue between all the guys and it will be just in that moment that the magic will take place: from complete strangers, those students will create incredible friendships which you -as ESNer- will see evolving day by day, and there is nothing more special as a message of tolerance than international friendships, which overcome administrative boundaries, language barriers or political issues and are just a true and honest hymn to brotherhood.

So, do you remember our game? Has your answer to the first question changed? Go searching some projects to take part in now and never forget to reach for the stars …maybe it will take place in your favourite foreign country and in some days you will even have a plane ticket in the left pocket of your jeans!

by Alessia Dapoto