Blog: United in Diversity: Renewing the antiquity of creativity for a peaceful Europe

The Old Continent is indeed ancient, but it can and must meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Our Europe must draw on the lessons of its long and turbulent history to succeed in a prosperous and exceptional 21st century. After all, antiquity can and ought to be an asset. Using traditions and legacies as inspirational forces should help to maintain and renew another European tradition – that of creativity.

The European Union is a unique, very special case in human history of an unprecedented peace project. Within the European Economic Area, there has been no military conflict since 1945, making it the longest period of peace on the Western European mainland since the Pax Romana.

There is nothing more candidly human than tolerance, than sharing culture. Culture is how we express ourselves. Culture is our shared humanity. Europeans have been sharing cultures for centuries, not only amongst the peoples of Europe but together with the peoples of the Earth.

Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, Altiero Spinelli, and Konrad Adenauer’s dream materialised in an imaginary community that genuinely mirrors how “United in Diversity” European peoples sincerely are. It started as a project of economic integration, but, over the years, it has transformed into something much more splendid than the mere pooling of coal and steel between nations.

Europeans strive daily to answer the question “What does it truly mean to be European?” I know I do.

Being European means exactly working towards a project of peace, imagination and ingenuity in a world where the European Union has to reinvent itself every single day that goes by. We are sure that if Europe does not live in the hearts of millions of Europeans, there will be no real European institution.

The years ahead of us will require, more than ever, political courage, innovation, and audacity. That is exactly why we should all think about how we came to be and where we are heading as the European Union.

From 4 to 6 May, I was given the brilliant opportunity by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations and the EU NEIGHBOURS east programme to represent the Young European Ambassadors during the Europe Days in Brussels. During my time dans le cœur de l’Europe, I saw nothing but inventiveness, resourcefulness and joy from the many young people who took part in the sharing of ideas for a better Europe. I learnt how to see the world with different eyes with people coming from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as from Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, and Egypt. They taught me that there is nothing more imperative than attentively listening to one another, because, in the end, it all comes down to preserving the art of listening.