European citizenship is a political reality for any citizen from any country belonging to the Union, since the Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992.
However, “feeling European” is something completely different. On the one hand, it consists in believing in all the values that have shaped the history of this Old Continent: from the rationalism of Greek philosophy to the “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” values all Europeans adopt as the basic ones in any modern country. But, on the other hand, feeling European also means being critical with all the mistakes that took place in this land: fratricidal wars, religious conflicts, racial annihilations, unfair totalitarianisms…
And being “pro European” is a step further. It is an active determination, with a deep will to work for all those values, such as the idea of a united continent and in peace, which offers to the rest of people on earth the necessary support and solidarity for global and equal progress.
It sounds rhetoric, seems like a Utopia… but Jean Monet was sure that “We cannot say something if impossible if we do not try it first” (Memories). And that is what we pro-Europeans do… try to make that dream come true…A Europe united and in peace.
The book that, you, reader, are holding now in your hands, has been written by a pro-European; one who has shaped his “feeling European” and his “feeling pro-European” during vital experiences directly in all those “Europes” that are intertwined today to create the European Union of tomorrow. These experiences began with the European Voluntary Service, to which the author has belonged to thanks to the European Commission “YOUTH” programme; these experienced are remembered in the book, they weave the plot, a personal plot: original and unique. Like all life experiences…
Let´s hope that, as this experience finds every reader’s experiences, Europe becomes a little bit more, a little bit better…