Young, bright…unemployed?

Young, strong, smart, but without job. It is the radiography of thousands of young Europeans. The worst case is Spain where in some counties the unemployment rate is about or more than 50% of the active population. Solutions? The European Parliament’s Education and Culture Committee approved last week a packet of proposals in order to decrease the Youth unemployment.

Europe for all. A funny way to explain EU to all audience by videos.

Europe and the European Union for some people are concepts that translate to far, boring and unintelligible. I guess it is not a secret to say. However, in order to change such vision, the Spanish website of information about EU, Hablamos de Europa (we speak about Europe), has uploaded several videos in a YouTube Channel explaining Europe in a funny way.

European Studies? What is (will be) it?

I got inspired from a seminar we had, and two questions came to my mind. The first of them is what is European Studies, or the concept “European Studies” as we understand nowadays in our master students perspective and how has it changed in my own perspective during the last years. The second question I would like to answer is what can European Studies teach and what is the future of these studies.

Open Letter about Multiculturalism to Cameron, Merkel and Sarkozy.

Dear Cameron, Merkel and Sarkozy,

The last weeks I have read declarations from all of you, Cameron, Merkel and Sarkozy, declaring that multiculturalism has failed. I speak as a Spaniard with Catalan culture living in Sweden, and who has traveled around Europe and the world during the last five years.

Cars green and green and green….

The European Commission has decided to be more green with the environment and to reduce CO2 emissions. The Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport is a key player in this aim. In fact, in the website is clearly written the next following statement:

“Clean and energy-efficient vehicles are essential if the European Union is to achieve its 2020 targets for improving energy efficiency, increasing the market share of renewable energy sources, and reducing CO2 emissions”.

Spain is different? Para bien, y para mal…

          Hace poco más de una semana tuve el placer y el privilegio de asistir a una clase en la universidad bastante especial y peculiar. El tema que se trataba era la memoria en la España post franquista. No tendría nada de peculiar si no fuera porque esa clase se dió en la Universidad de Lund (Suecia) por  Carsten Humlebaek, un profesor Danés que fue invitado para la ocasión. Para mí fue toda una grata sorpresa que alguien que en un primer momento y a simple vista no se podría identificar con la cultura Española, sabía tanto y era consciente de la sensibilidad y delicadeza del tema.

Euro in Tallinn

 

          Euro Apteek not only is one of the biggest pharmacies we came across in Tallinn, but it is centrally located, right next to their national monument celebrating first independence. Of course we couldn’t meet the owner of the pharmacy, but when asked why is the drug store named this way,the pharmacist on duty told us it’s just a catchy name to raise confidence and set a standard. Indeed it does. The EU is associated with some kind of regulations and control over the use of certain substances that drugs are made of. But do we really rely on this every time we buy a medicine? Or is it just a psychological effect the euro name has on our confidence and trust development? Either way, the customers were plenty and pretty satisfied. 

Catalan “embassies” around the world with political representation?

      When I was writing my paper for my Master course, I found some piece of news and blogs very interesting. They speak about the creation of  “Catalan embassies” around the world. I was so interested in this issue that I made a small research in regard to this issue. The Catalan government has created delegations is some countries of Europe, and in America. They are in France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, United States and Argentina. It is curious how one delegation-embassy from the foreign affairs department of the Catalan Government is in….Madrid!

A fragmented Europe?

 

      The vision of a united Europe is often contradicted by various approaches and through different perspectives. In a similar way do we believe that the picture represents the numerous attitudes and concepts that consist of the challenges that Europe faces in the 21stcentury.  First and foremost do we believe that the picture, like Europe, can be interpreted in numerous ways!

      While various transnational European Institutions such as the EU, the CoE etc. over the recent decades have sought to create a common European framework does it appear that the advancement of the Europeanization in recent years has been a setback rather than a continuous progress.

      On one hand has there been numerous attempts to create a common European framework and on the other it appears that the EU member states permanently are trying to obstruct the common vision of an inclusive EU. The recent example is when the states decided to “take ownership” of the EU’s foreign policy at a summit designated to set the EU’s strategic priorities.

      Particularly interesting, is it that unlike the discussions of the Lisbon Treaty, where European citizens to a large extent rejected the Treaty. This time is it the decision makers that actively oppose the progress of the vision of the EU – in ensuring that the states will maintain their sovereignity in regard to questions on foreign policy.  The picture can be perceived as a symbol of this political fragmentation.

      Another way of interpreting the picture is through the puzzle of Europe on the desk, in front of a computer and the globe in the back. Is this a symbol of the increasing significance of the EU in the global order? Or is it a symbol of the emergence of the globalization where the EU plays a major role in developing new forms of communication? 

      The mess of the puzzle on the desk poses some of the more difficult questions! Who is going to put the pieces together? in which order? Politicans? EU-crats? People that only work from a top-down approach while neglecting the reality and the societies they influence? Which kind of Europe are we facing in the future with this type of integration? Europe, and European identity should not be constructed in an office rather it should be a joint project of the EU in conjunction with the European citizens. 

      European identity and European integration have to be built from the streets, from the people in every city if the European vision of unity in diversity needs to become a success. Is it possible to build a house starting with the roof? or is there a danger that it might collapse before the dream will become a reality? Like any other top-down approach is there a strong need for a civil society and a bottom-up approach that reflects the facts on ground!.

      This puzzle is not only about fitting the right pieces and nation states together but more importantly how we can live together and embrace European diversity! It is a puzzle that no one expects will be easy and it’s a task where the EU institutions, nation states and citizens need to go hand in hand in order to shape the future! The main question is not how and why, but rather if the European citizens are interested in the Europeanization project and EU’s vision of unity in diversity?

     These are just a few examples on how the picture can be interpreted – we would like to include other questions such as the emergence of a European power-state, and of course the question of the European enlargement but most importantly we would like to hear your perspective on the picture!

 

Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof

Javier Ruiz Soler