The great European dream… a united Europe to face off challenges together, to support each other and to shape a common future. Is this dream really crumbling to dust or are we just losing faith prematurely?

What does it mean to be an European? Is it all about the culture and history of our continent? Or is it about the prosperity that we share as member states? Is it all just luxury and glamour? I think not. I think we should all keep in mind that Europe means all of us – together. It is just like a great chain in which we are the links. And we should always bear in mind that a chain is just as strong as its weakest link. That is, the strength of Europe resides solely on our support.

Unfortunately, during these times of great economical crisis, we are doubting an already weakened Europe. According to the Autumn 2010 Eurobarometer survey, only 50% of europeans considered that their country’s membership in EU has beneited them, while 39% afirmed the opposite and the remaining 11% expressed no opinion. The percentage of citizens regarding the EU as a ‘bad thing’ has been rising since autumn 2007 according to the same survey.

During our lives we often face dificulties. Some appear too great at the time, while others we ea- sily overcome. Some actually seem so dificult that we would rather quit than gather the courage to face them. However, the great writer and sci- ewnhteisnt fIascaeadc bAoslidmlyo”v. sStoa,t eadlt hthoautg h“d oifuirc uilrtsiet sim vapnuilsshe iosu tro d qifuiitc,u wltye daonnd’ tw. eIn osftteeand mwea niagghet ttoo osvuecrcceodm ine the end.

One of humanity’s best way to progress is actu- ally commiting mistakes for the beneit of lear- ning from them. It sometimes is the only way to move forward and we often employ it unknowingly in our lives. When little, we learn basic principles through trial and error and when we grow up we still learn from mistakes we commit – trying to never do them twice and learn what led us to doing them in the irst place.

Our lives are full of adversity and according to the french writer Victor Hugo, it is ‘adversity which makes men while prosperity makes monsters’. So, how come we do not accept that the Euro- pean Union, a sort of living organism made of tiny cells – us, its citizens – can make mistakes and evolve by overcoming them? How come we lose faith in it when facing a trial and don’t give it the chance to ight and learn from it? How can we be so unforgiving with the EU when it is actually just like another human being – doomed to error but blessed with the ability to learn and improve?

The EU cannot, however, learn from its troubles by itself. It needs our support – we need to observe exactly what and why is going wrong so we can ix it. The crisis is actually helping us improve the European institutions and procedures by showing us what doesn’t work properly. In the end, we will shape the Union so that it will become more powerful and more resilient.

Just as people in a community grow closer together when faced with a common enemy, so will the economic crisis strengthen the bonds between us, europeans. We will become more family-like, more united and more proud than ever before of what we managed to shape together! Our constant support is the only way to prove that Europe is not only a word… but a world.

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