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EU, my Home
European Union
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Europe is the EU and the EU is Europe. Europe is a community and a community is a union!
Despite all the quarrels and flaws in its administration, the EU is the most important political project in the history. Not only since the end of the 2nd World War, but in the whole history of the Humanity.
EU Parliament 1979 EU Parliament Strasbourg (France) EU Parliament Strasbourg (France)
EU Parliament in Brussels (Belgium)
In the EU has begun the long and slow, but fundamental process of the global unification of the civilization. Don’t confuse this with the capitalistic ‘globalization’ or with other kind of conspiracy theories.
The unification is the natural evolution for any civilization. It is a natural fact in any intelligent system. The same happens in the world of technology, where the standards tends to unify (communication protocols, voltages, formats in general, etc…) to make the exchange and movement of everything more easy.
The Human is one specie, therefore it is natural that in a very long time, there will be a unified world, without Countries and with only one common language. It doesn’t matter how long time it will take. If our civilization will not collapse and will not return back to the Middle Ages again, this will be the natural evolution of things.
Do you think that an advanced extraterrestrial civilization would live still divided in Countries and speaking 100 different languages? Any futuristic sociologist would not imagine that.
The grounding of the EU is the very first step of this unification process. Soon or later the same process could (or should) happen also in all the other macro-regions of the world (Africa, Asia, Sud America, ecc…). It is a natural process in an intelligent civilization, despite whatever the nationalists fans of nowadays tell.
Of course everything has to be done at its proper time. Mixing incompatible cultures is not a good idea.
Before to mix 2 very different cultures, the most restrictive culture, should take some ground changes. Not the contrary. (See the Islamic migration)
But inside of Europe there are not so big differences which make cultures incompatible among each others. Spanish and Finnish people have extremely different cultures and ways of life, but both them agree around the basic constitutional rights.
So, I am proud and happy to be European and to be a EU citizen. For me, despite all the problems, Europe is the best place where to live in the world. It is the most civil continent. It is the continent where the fundamental rights of the people are better covered, as the access to the health cares, as first. (Yes, also here all the free services are getting always worst, but Capitalism is to blame for it, not the EU!)
Despite all problems, Europe is the place with the best average conditions of life, not the USA, where there are many useless super rich, while the major part of the population lives in pretty poor conditions, in comparison the average level in Europe. They even don’t have the right to a decent heath care for everyone, the first basic right in every civilization.
I would not live in any other place in the world. I would never live in the USA (the apotheosis of Capitalism), as well not in China or in North Korea. I would not move even to Countries like Australia or Canada. It is easy to be a well-doing Country, when you are big, rich and alone:)
Europe is a community made of completely foreigner Countries. Each one with its history, its ways of life and even its language! But they have decided together to cooperate in an always more integrated way. It is a very admirable challenge and it should be taken as model by all the other regions of the world.
It is really weird and sad, that the most of the EU citizens are not actually aware about how much the EU is a unique place in the world, and a very precious project. Especially for the people who have grown up after the late 1970’s years, it seems difficult to understand. They give everything for granted. But nothing is granted.
I became more aware about this in year 2000, when I got know some Japanese students (20-22 years old) who stayed for a period of time in Milan, in Italy. On one weekend they rented a car and drove for some hundred Km to Austria, just on purpose to experience the crossing of the border without any check! Just by driving the car. I was very surprised and I asked them “And you go there…only for this?!”. Yes, it was only for this!
Crossing the internal EU borders. Imagine to do it in year 1950 or before!
At the most of the crossing points, if you don’t pay attention to the shield you even don’t notice that now you are in the neighbor nation! You knock the first door to ask an information, and you understand nothing what they say… And it is amazing if you think about how the crossing of these borders was in year 1950 or before.
For the most of the people who live outside the EU, almost everywhere in the world, it is really inconceivable that people can move so freely to their neighbor nation and to many others, so easy and with such freedom! Try to do it at the border between India and Pakistan, or Iran and Israel, USA and Canada, or between Japan and China or Korea.
In that moment I became much more aware about how many achievements EU has reached, how much precious they are and how much hard they were to get. Nothing is granted.
Don’t forget that everything in EU is born on the ruins of a bloody war.
For those Japanese students (as well it is for all the people outside the EU) it was inconceivable that here in EU we can choose so easy the Country where we want like to live and go there searching for a job, simply with our identity card and nothing more, without even to own a passport and without to have to struggle in getting a business visa! I even didn’t know what a business visa is, and I always traveled inside the EU with only my ID card in the pocket. I used my passport only 2 times in my life, when I traveled to Japan.
In these years the most favorite sport of many people in Europe is to blame the EU and the € for all the internal problems of their Country. That is very annoying, especially when it comes from the historically more corrupted Countries and most inefficient in their public administration: Italy, Greece, and a little less, Spain.
The most of people in the EU forget that many of the improvements in laws and rights, which they enjoy in their Countries everyday, have come from the EU, not from their national Governments!
Many essential improvements in rights and regulations about jobs, health, harmful substances, pollution, rights of the consumers (e.g.: right of withdrawal on purchases, phone roaming cost, 2 years warranty, etc…) and more, have come from the EU. The national governments never really cared about these things. They are too much busy with their internal affairs.
Too bad also, that when they lose an important lawsuit in their Country, the anti-EU people appeal to the EU court begging for help, and often they get their unfair sentence annulled.
About Italy, I have spent my first 35 years of life there. I know well who is to blame for all its problems: the Italians. Nobody else!
If Italy was not a so deeply corrupted Country and so unable to administrate itself, I would have not moved away. It is not by chance if the Italians have the most individualist culture in Europe, and if the Mafia and Mafia-like organizations were born right in Italy, and not in France or in Greece. Now I don’t examine here the cultural reasons why Italy developed in this way. It is not the scope here.
I say only that If Italy would wipe out completely its corruption and tax evasion, Italy would become rich like Germany or more. It would have no problems staying in the EU and with €! There is nothing else to blame, nothing!
Instead, every time they come crying to Brussels holding the hat in the hands, begging for money. One time is for an emergency, one time is for another. It is very boring and annoying to me.
I am tired to hear to blame the EU for the problems of such Countries. For example, did everything double its price with the switch to €? Yes, I agree! I remember well how it happened, and you have to thank all the ‘smart’ dealers of your Country. Who should have surveyed whether dealers behaved correctly? Brussels or the national Governments and their ministers? The national Governments did nothing serious concrete to keep the situation under control.
To all people who claim “…the tyrant EU!” , “…the undemocratic EU!” I remember them that EU is not more undemocratic than how the national Governments are! EU works under the principles of the ‘Representative Democracy‘ as well. EU has a parliament directly elected by people. Then start to choose better when you go to vote for the EU parliament.
All the other EU institutions are indirectly elected by the members of the national governments. Then start to choose better your national Government as first, when you go to vote.
In the facts, the EU is more democratic than the national governments, because the most of the activities of EU and its organizations are more transparent to everyone, by law.
EU citizens have even the possibility to submit laws’ proposals to the EU Commission, and the Commission is obliged to examine them.
It’s true that EU also wastes time in regulating idiots things, as the curvature of bananas, but it is not the bigger problem of EU now, and everything can be changed, under the proper electoral pressure of people.
The most important things that need to be changed soon are:
1) The EU parliament should be able to propose laws (as well any parliament does), and not only to approve/reject law proposals coming from the EU Commission.
2) The EU citizens should directly elect the members of the EU commission.
3) The ‘German-French axle’ should cease to exist. Sure that German and France are the bigger financial contributors to EU, but they should stop to meet each other to take their decisions in advance, before to talk with all the other Countries. All EU Countries have be involved at the same time, in the same way.
4) Every EU Country should stop to fight for its only benefits.
5) A single Country should have not the right to block a decision voted by the large majority of the other Countries.
6) The lobbies should be abolished and chased away. Lobbies are one of the many bad elements of the Capitalistic system and they are present also at national level.
The future of Europe
If our civilization will not collapse, the most probable and desirable future of the EU is not to become the United States of Europe one day, as some people say, because it would mean that EU will continue to be quite deeply divided in States, without building a true Community of citizens.
The best and more proper future for the EU is to become the Republic of Europe.
There is already an EU Parliament, directly elected by the citizens. Let it work properly as a parliament and the job will be done. The people of all Countries will discuss together about how to solve the problems of all the Countries (which will be Regions). If Slovak want to build a nuclear power plant or to destroy a forest, all the people of Europe would be interested and involved in solving the problem in a different way.
Of course everything would work better if the European Republic will work under the principles of the Direct Democracy.
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Music credits:
“Galaxia” by “Moonman” (1997), by Ferry Corsten from Rotterdam, Holland (EU)
Galaxya – Aly & Fila Remix
Galaxya – Ataraxia Remix
Galaxya – Solarstone Remix
Galaxya – Mike Van Angel Remix
Galaxya – Extended with chill out version
Galaxya – Synphonic Mix
Galaxya – Sealz Orchestral Mix
(I would propose this melody as EU anthem. I find the present anthem too much outdated)