At the moment, my team and I are intensively preparing for the 9 May Europe Day celebrations, and it has given me an opportunity to ask myself what Europe Day actually still means today – in a world that grows increasingly more complicated.
This year, I found myself wondering whether Robert Schuman and the other founding fathers would be proud of the Europe we have built. My answer is: yes – but they would also be worried. Proud, because from the ruins of war a union has emerged in which peace, open borders, and shared values have become part of everyday life for so many of us. The simple fact that a Luxembourger can travel to Trier without passport control would have felt like a huge blessing to them.
But if they were to look at Ukraine today, I think they would ask us plainly: “Have you forgotten why we founded Europe?” For them, it was always about the most important things: no more war, no more separated families, no more fear of the neighbouring country.
Their greatest reproach would probably be this: “You take Europe for granted – until a crisis comes.” And their most important piece of advice: “Celebrate the normality you live in. But never forget that it must be defended anew every single day.”
Because what seems self-evident to us now – freedom of movement, peace, shared strength – is in reality the most valuable thing we have.
A message for the younger generation
This matters above all for young people. Many of them have never known it any other way. They grow up European – especially here in Luxembourg – experiencing Europe as a guaranteed part of their daily lives: open borders, Erasmus, no roaming charges, the Euro, clean drinking water, safe food, and ever-stronger protections online.
That is precisely why it is so important to show them, again and again, how immensely Europe has improved their lives. This week, European Youth Week, is a good moment for exactly that conversation – whether at school or around the kitchen table at home.
I would like to impart three things to the younger generation:
- First: Europe is not a self-propelled vehicle. Peace and freedom are never guaranteed.
- Second: Europe is your space – use it, travel, learn, get involved.
- Third: Europe needs your ideas. Climate change, digitalisation, and social justice can only be tackled together.
Europe Day reminds us: you are not only the future of Europe – you are already shaping it today.
Europe is our home. Today, every day, together.
