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We can’t abandon Europe to the people who want to abolish it. Let’s do something for Europe together!

1) Let’s fly the flag for Europe.
2) Let’s get informed about Europe.
3) Let’s talk about Europe.
4) Let’s make Europe local.

On this site, we show all the ways you can get involved for Europe. But first, we have to be visible. We are many, and we are many-coloured. And this is our Europe – your Europe – so let’s fly the flag!

    What you can do:

    Taste and touch Europe, discover Europe, talk about Europe. When we do something for Europe, we’re making it our Europe.

    • Through the eyes of others

      Talk of “that lot in Brussels” or “the powers that be in Brussels” would seem to be part of the standard lexicon of sceptics and malcontents in all EU member states. I myself have even heard these EU-bashing classics in a small town in eastern Poland (“Oni tam w Brukseli”). Reversing the perspective, and taking a look at how Europe is seen from the regions, is one key objective of euractiv.com. This news portal – for my money the best of its kind – has country offices and partner offices in 13 European states and reports from the bottom up in 12 languages.

      One click on the website’s “about us” menu heading, entitled “Euractiv Network”, is all it takes to gain a vivid and immediate impression of the diversity on offer here: България, Česká republika, Deutschland, España … In addition to the German and the international English-language editions of Euractiv, my work as an Eastern Europe correspondent regularly leads me to consult the Polish and Czech pages as well as skimming through the headlines from Bulgaria and Romania. Each time, I marvel at the effect of this shift in perspective and it does not take long until I find myself starting to view Europe through eastern spectacles.

      For anyone who deals with the EU on a professional basis, the Euractiv portal is an exceptionally helpful tool. However, there is also a great deal of fascinating material for other users: news, thematic dossiers, opinion pieces, infographics and videos from virtually every European policy area. A question mark remains over the independence of the portal, which was founded in 1999 by media maker Christophe Leclercq 1999. According to its own statements, Euractiv is financed by corporate sponsorship, advertising and via participation in EU projects for which tenders have been invited and through membership fees of associations, NGOs and parties, who are allowed to use the channel for their press and PR work in return. This is borderline, though it does not affect the quality of the site.

    • Come here, go away – our ambivalent relationship with Europe

      The EU is too abstract, and Europe itself too big, to be fully understood. Often enough, we do not even grasp the character of the village three kilometres away, the district adjoining our own or the nearest town. On arriving in a new area and meeting others who do not share our ways, we soon start feeling like strangers – and of course our everyday lives take up so much of our time and energy that we simply do not have the leisure to be curious and find out more. That is why, all too often, we remain strangers – although once you take a closer look, maybe we are not so different after all.

      The Franco-German TV station arte is building bridges to help us discover our similarities and differences. An especially impressive format in this respect is “Stadt, Land, Europa” (“Town, Country, Europe”). Five brief videos introduce us to residents of two small towns on either side of the Rhine – Naila in Upper Franconia and Commercy in Lorraine – and show their relationship with Europe. Two people, one from each town, tell us what they associate with Europe, what they like about it and what they hope for. They also tell us what they dislike about the EU, in what respects they take issue with Europe and which “Brussels speciality” creates problems for them.

      We meet these people where they live and work. No make-up on, sweaty, stains on their shirts – this is just the way we might meet them if we went there in person. What they have to say to us and our Europe is their truth, irrespective of whether we find it pleasing or irksome. The focal point of each film is an encounter with ordinary everyday Europe and its diverse views, values and customs.

      These authentic encounters help us understand the situations of our fellow EU citizens, making it easier for us to grasp why someone thinks the way they do. We realise we do not all have to have the same opinion. We are neighbours, which means we do not always have to agree on every single point. We do not all have to be friends either. But just as we might share a bus or a train compartment, so too we share the continent we call home. That includes the times when we might think, “I’d get a bit more peace in the car” or “I’d like to be left in peace in my own country” – travelling alone or living alone is costlier and riskier and does more damage to the environment.

      Such an insight might or might not occur to us while watching the videos – or we might just find them interesting and well-made. In any case, the film series is just one small part of the broad and varied range of European programming on offer from arte. The website is well worth investigating!

    • What has the EU ever done for me?

      It is a question we ask ourselves quite frequently these days, not least because of the populists who, considering themselves in the ascendant, like to whisper it in our ear. The purpose of the question is to sow doubt – to make us stop and ponder. In many people, it has the desired effect: after all, it is not all that easy to provide a concrete answer, is it? What springs to mind? Maybe the funding pools for agriculture or those for road construction? Then, it promptly occurs to us that this money is also misused at times. Just like that, we are back in the downward spiral. Grumbling about Europe is a great deal easier.  

      Perhaps it is not really so surprising we cannot think of a lot of examples of what Europe has done for us. After all, the key strength of the EU lies in providing a general framework of rules. These will often be about the really important matters in life: family, work, consumer protection, civil rights, health and money. Naturally, each of these can also be broken down into tiny details. However, before you start thinking, “Here comes yet another regulation on the curvature of cucumbers”, that one was abolished in 2009. In any case, it was mostly fundamentally misunderstood.

      If we take a close concrete look at everything involved, the process is all pretty confusing initially. The overall EU regulatory framework generates countless individual regulations – in fact, over 1,000 new regulations and laws are enacted each year. It is impossible to go through them all and laboriously indicate how we benefit from them on a daily basis.

      That is why the website What Europe does for me was created. Here, set out neatly and clearly, you will find plenty of information telling you exactly what the EU has done for you. This is all nicely sorted into three sections: In my region, In my life and In focus.

      Each of the three sections invites you to delve deeper. You can take a look at what the EU has accomplished in your own region or go through all of Europe’s regions. What has happened in my favourite holiday region? What about the country my EU neighbour hails from? If you would like to know what the EU is doing for you in concrete terms – whether you live in a city or in the country, whether you are a single parent or have just lost your job – see “In my life” for projects and information dealing with these and many other topics. Meanwhile, in the section entitled “In focus”, we discover what improvements the EU has already achieved in specific contexts, as well as learning in which others – such as the regulation of artificial intelligence and of tax havens – there is still plenty of work to be done.

      You may well come away from the website in a state of some astonishment – because it turns out the EU has already done more for us than we generally realise.

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