After travelling several EU countries and speaking with strangers, as well as friends, a key issue has been brought to my attention: Europeans don’t particularly know what the EU is, what it stands for and, more importantly, how it influences their everyday life. I must warn some of you that will blame this on ignorance and lack of education, that in reality these are not the main causes. It is actually a widespread symptom found in different categories from intellectuals to brokers, from farmers to retailers, so it is safe to say that it transcends the education and professional background.
One might wonder what would be the cause of this symptom, which our leaders failed to identify for so many years? Having analyzed many of this cases and listened to people talk, write, argue, I started observing that the problem begins in middle school education and it spreads towards the adulthood access to public information.
Let me be clearer. I realized that the European Union project was reserved for a very narrow niche of the society; not in a conspiratorial sort of way, but in an unintentional evolution of things. The European Union started as an economical project and for decades this has been its number one marketing skill. “The milk and honey of a prosperous alliance of the most advanced civilization in the world”. This is what everyone OUT or IN strived for.

Paradoxically, there were so many decades of such positive economic development, that every other characteristic of the EU – the 4 pillars, the peace, the security and so on- were no more than beautiful words in every speech on every occasion. This is the naked truth and it quickly started to show with the first major economic crisis that hit Europe, as well as the rest of the world.
There has been a modest attempt to form generations to come in becoming true hearted Europeans and programs like Erasmus are impressive, but touch very few of our hundred million young people. And then again, it only forms elites into thinking and understanding the necessity and the wonders of the European project. However, as I pointed out earlier, elites are not the target that needs to be convinced. It is the “soldiers” that need to be educated in a European style, not the upper ranks of the army.

How did we get here?
For common people that are not politically or socially involved in EU affairs, the EU doesn’t mean anything else but an economic project. That stands for both lower middle class citizens, as well as for billionaires. And please keep in mind that this is not the worst-case scenario.

Reality is, as you already know by now, that there is a growing discontent with anything related to the EU, due to ineffective EU policies, corruption scandals (e.g. Lux leaks, Panama leaks, OLAF), inability to address the citizens security concerns (the terrorists attacks, migrant crisis) and failure to understand people’s real fear of losing their lifestyle. The last point is worth mentioning separately, because I have heard it so many times and I have also started to understand it, in the past year. Moreover, it is the most important vulnerability that foes of the European Union chose to use in their carefully instrumented attack strategy.
In terms of human rights, tolerance, free movement, education and health care and so many other domains, the European Union is a model of liberal and advanced society, formed on the basis of almost 3 millenniums of continuous and diverse civilization. It is a Phoenix bird born out of the ashes of its own greed, hate, lack of vision and morals. The peace and the reconstruction have provided a never-ending feeling of progress for its citizens. That is why seeing EU leaders unwillingness to address the dangers around the continent and most important, inside Europe, became increasingly frustrating for fellow Europeans.
There are so many balanced voices that truly cherish their acquaintances and friends from many different ethnic backgrounds; nonetheless, they cannot understand why guests are not encouraged to embrace the law and customs of the host. “When in Rome, be a Roman”, this is one of my favourite sayings and I see that Europeans understand the need to respect the traditions of the hosts when visiting other cultures. Therefore, one would ask him/herself: if our Europe has achieved so much preserving this “recipe” of constant progress, while maintaining our vivid and diverse traditions alive, why aren’t our leaders sending a firm message to any guest to understand, accept and embrace the European ways?
This is a major frustration of European citizens and has lead to some of them being inevitable drawn to the Eurosceptic populist speeches of those opposing the further evolution of the European Union…or its mere existence. Fear is always a great starting point for extremist movements. And bear in mind that some of the roots of the European instability lie also in the declared enemy of the EU, the Russian Federation’s leadership.
This fear has been fed long before our leaders heard of the concept fake news. It has been fed through constant and refined communication with the masses, on a level that the EU leadership hasn’t been able (not even willing, unfortunately) so far. It was noticeable in their online press in English and every other European language targeted, which speculated each interesting event and translated it to the people by inflaming any fear and vulnerability. It was observable in the growing support for the populist leaders with extreme views on Europe and its purpose. Like a snowball sliding down a hill, this whole questioning became a force of its own. One that is very hard to control at present times.
Solution no 1: effective education of the young generation
If anything can be saved, we should start not tomorrow, not in the next Commission mandate, but today. A good and necessary starting point should be convincing EU states to implement compulsory lessons, designed in an attractive way, about the European Union. It should start in middle school and continue in high school, so that European teenagers can understand the history, the meaning, the values and of course the architecture of the European Union. So many political movements call for young people to defend the EU right now – and it’s a noble purpose – without understanding that the youth is confused and untrained.
A fair amount of the EU budget should go to the EU states for this action, in order to ensure its implementation. Also, experts from all EU states should be gathered in Brussels to prepare the educative materials, in order to find a common narrative and also, to ensure the small adaptations for each country.

I believe this should be a large-scale action coordinated from Brussels so that nobody will “gets lost on the way“. If the EU would want to ensure that this becomes an effective job, it should call on common professors, teachers, social media experts and psychologists, to work on the project. The people that have access to the masses would bring the much needed breath of fresh air and innovative solutions to make it a success.
Given the rise of ultra conservative governments, actions like the one I mentioned have to be backed by similar ones, which encourage the local traditions of each country. This is what united in diversity should mean. I believe in further and a deeper study of history, in a fun style adapted to the new generation’s challenges. Diminishing the study of history is always a poor idea, since it can lead to people being manipulated by fake news about their own identity or facts in their history.

Knowledge is power. Let us use these wise words to rapidly start educating the European generations to come. Our shared culture and set of values can save these nations from falling into an unwanted darkness.

 

Author : Diana Rusu
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