According to Greek mythology, Europe was a pretty young girl who had the capacity to bewitch Zeus, the Almighty God of the Olympus. Still today we can describe this continent as a magical place where intercrossing of different cultures continues to arouse the curiosity of the men and women of the whole world. With a population of around 760 million inhabitants, and being one of the smallest continents of the planet, Europe is located in the western part of the Euro-Asian continent. Is it effectively a continent? It isn’t. But the historical circumstances, political organization and the cultural union of these people made this territory in a continent, with a huge importance in the international context. Here there are 60 languages, most of the Indo-European family and spoken by different peoples who are distributed since Scandinavia until the Mediterranean. This ethnic and cultural diversity, many times take-in questioning if really exists a connector link that is characteristic to all the Europeans. In fact, there is. At the age of the Greek-roman civilization, the inhabitants of the European space shared customs and traditions, many times acculturated themselves. The formation of the Roman Empire led to various lands were to become united under the power of the Emperor, and they had to follow the same laws. The influence of this classic civilization left marks that had lasted per the centuries until the present. The alphabet, the laws, the political organization, the architecture, literature among other aspects had been adoptees in diverse regions of the continent, since the British islands until the Balkans. In the Middle Ages, people took again a common identity through conversion to Christianity. It is true that there were divisions and disagreements with Catholicism and later led the creation of the Lutheran Church, Anglican and Protestant, but the truth is that most of the European population remained Christian. Looking back we see a Europe tainted by successive wars, but these disputes have made more quickly have developed proposals for alliances and community associations. In the seventeenth century Eméric Crucé formulated the idea of creating a European Council that would end the conflict that took place across the continent. Many other intellectuals such as Rousseaux, Karl Marx, Emmanuel Kant or Leibniz supported the same idea to achieve a desirable policy objective in the long term. Unfortunately this idea was slowly taking place. Two world-wide wars and millions of lost lives had been necessary so that the leaders of the biggest European powers made pacts that safeguarded the peace and stimulated the reconstruction of infrastructures and the economy. The Creation of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) made possible the existence of the EEC (European Economic Community) that throughout the following years it organized the Europe in a political model that lasts to the present: the European Union. Today the new challenge of the European Union passes for strengthening a common identity to all the Europeans, which sometimes is refuted by some skeptics who guarantee that the European citizenship is a statute that was used “to sell the idea of the Europe”. In fact, the perception of many Europeans who believe that Brussels takes essentially economical and bureaucratic decisions tends to persist. It is urgent that the educative systems have an active role in combating a widespread misinformation and promote strongly the European identity that really exists. This identity that passes for the tolerance, freedom and respect for the human rights and democracy is the mainstay of the European ideal. Active participation in the society is also common to the identity of all the Europeans. Indeed, it is not necessary that all the citizens feel loyal to and identified with a common cultural identity (which is a utopia), but with constitutional principles that fully guarantee its rights and freedoms. I believe then that if in the past the European identity was a myth, today is a reality that is part of our quotidian. More and more Europeans have this notion and each time more we should to engage to keep a Europe that defends its own ideals.
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According to Greek mythology, Europe was a pretty young girl who had the capacity to bewitch Zeus, the Almighty God of the Olympus. Still today we can describe this continent as a magical place where intercrossing of different cultures continues to arouse the curiosity of the men and women of the whole world. With a population of around 760 million inhabitants, and being one of the smallest continents of the planet, Europe is located in the western part of the Euro-Asian continent. Is it effectively a continent? It isn’t. But the historical circumstances, political organization and the cultural union of these people made this territory in a continent, with a huge importance in the international context. Here there are 60 languages, most of the Indo-European family and spoken by different peoples who are distributed since Scandinavia until the Mediterranean. This ethnic and cultural diversity, many times take-in questioning if really exists a connector link that is characteristic to all the Europeans. In fact, there is. At the age of the Greek-roman civilization, the inhabitants of the European space shared customs and traditions, many times acculturated themselves. The formation of the Roman Empire led to various lands were to become united under the power of the Emperor, and they had to follow the same laws. The influence of this classic civilization left marks that had lasted per the centuries until the present. The alphabet, the laws, the political organization, the architecture, literature among other aspects had been adoptees in diverse regions of the continent, since the British islands until the Balkans. In the Middle Ages, people took again a common identity through conversion to Christianity. It is true that there were divisions and disagreements with Catholicism and later led the creation of the Lutheran Church, Anglican and Protestant, but the truth is that most of the European population remained Christian. Looking back we see a Europe tainted by successive wars, but these disputes have made more quickly have developed proposals for alliances and community associations. In the seventeenth century Eméric Crucé formulated the idea of creating a European Council that would end the conflict that took place across the continent. Many other intellectuals such as Rousseaux, Karl Marx, Emmanuel Kant or Leibniz supported the same idea to achieve a desirable policy objective in the long term. Unfortunately this idea was slowly taking place. Two world-wide wars and millions of lost lives had been necessary so that the leaders of the biggest European powers made pacts that safeguarded the peace and stimulated the reconstruction of infrastructures and the economy. The Creation of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) made possible the existence of the EEC (European Economic Community) that throughout the following years it organized the Europe in a political model that lasts to the present: the European Union. Today the new challenge of the European Union passes for strengthening a common identity to all the Europeans, which sometimes is refuted by some skeptics who guarantee that the European citizenship is a statute that was used “to sell the idea of the Europe”. In fact, the perception of many Europeans who believe that Brussels takes essentially economical and bureaucratic decisions tends to persist. It is urgent that the educative systems have an active role in combating a widespread misinformation and promote strongly the European identity that really exists. This identity that passes for the tolerance, freedom and respect for the human rights and democracy is the mainstay of the European ideal. Active participation in the society is also common to the identity of all the Europeans. Indeed, it is not necessary that all the citizens feel loyal to and identified with a common cultural identity (which is a utopia), but with constitutional principles that fully guarantee its rights and freedoms. I believe then that if in the past the European identity was a myth, today is a reality that is part of our quotidian. More and more Europeans have this notion and each time more we should to engage to keep a Europe that defends its own ideals.