Europe that matters in the world starts with citizens who strengthen its “backbone”

“Europe counts for nothing internationally.” “The balance in the world is changing, and it will crush us.” “But where is the European Union?” We all ask these questions, perhaps in different ways, and we often hear others ask them. We worry that the world’s wealthiest market, inhabited by almost 450 million people and almost all its members part of NATO (and one of them even has an atomic weapon), does not have enough strength to really count globally. Some think the answer is to “dry up” the Union and go back to national states, tiny national states that, often, because of their size, could not count even in Europe.

In our opinion, the answer is technically wrong, even for those who want to promote their country’s own characteristics.

There are many correct answers, including those that aim to strengthen the Union: improving governance, bolstering its economy and its role in the world, and drawing strength from the great possibilities that the coming together of so many forces can provide.

What is for sure is that it is not enough to complain: not enough in private life, not enough in public life. You must become an active part of society, even knowing you will face disappointment and political defeat. Participation is the key, and in a few weeks, each one of us citizens of age (but in many countries also 16-year-olds) will have a rare opportunity to play our part, to have our say, to show that we do not delegate to those who feel like taking some responsibility; that we are all there, or at least many of us, to let it be known that the citizens of the Union want to have their say, want to participate managing this unique organization in the world, that they believe there is something to be said and done.

Elections, hose for town halls, municipalities, and so on going up to the European elections, are the moment in which we can show that we are not unsuspecting, that we are not people who stand there and suffer and whose only weapon is to complain, but who want to be there and show, that 450 million citizens want to be part of what is happening, in Europe and in the world, by having their say.

The party landscape offers a bit of everything. Perhaps none of them stimulates enthusiasm, but for sure, discarding them all, showing no interest can only give space to those in Europe and around the world who think that people don’t count anyway because they do not show themselves, and, therefore, the things that need doing are “other” rather than represent the needs and the strength, of the common interest.