EU Reasons Why
Grupo de Trabajo: Soberanía Europea
Participantes:Paula Belen Moreno-Cervera, Ignacio Lasheras y María del Carmen García.
IE University
Proposal
The main focus of our project is the idea of sovereignty and european identity being part of the same structure. Thus, by increasing the levels of identification of the european population with the institutions, its sovereignty would be positively affected.
The consequent question would be: how is it possible to increase the levels of europeanism in the population? In this sense, the answer that we propose is the manifestation of the benefits and advantages that European citizenship entails. For us, it is clear that any communication strategy that attempts to change something as personal as the individual identification with a supranational institution can not be simply focused on what does it mean to be a part of the European Union. Consequently, we have decided to tailor this message, by highlighting the practical aspects of this European belonging. Undoubtedly, the best way to strengthen feelings towards something is showing them how it translates to their daily life and how it is really positive for them.
In 1993, Samuel P. Huntington wrote “The Clash of Civilizations”, a masterpiece in International Relations in which the author defended that globalization and the reduction of distances would trigger issues that would not affect just one country, or not even one region, they might have a worldwide impact. Almost thirty years later, his diagnosis seems to be correct. A disease originated in one single city has changed the world and the way we used to conceive it. Before these global problems, Europe requires coordination and capability to give solutions. Despite not having exclusive competences on healthcare, the European Union has been able to cooperate to get a secure system of vaccines for every Member State and has provided assistance to recover the economy.
Thus, the COVID -19 pandemic is a great opportunity to show people how valuable it is to be part of the European Union. The idea of our communication strategy is based on a campaign by the Council of the European Union that has created a list with the actions that the EU is taking to protect its citizens from the health and economic crisis.
Besides, we have read personal experiences of some people that confirm the idea of the EU having a direct impact on the daily lives of its citizens. By transmitting both messages in the same place, our instagram account (@eureasons), we want to make people understand the real implications of the EU actions. Currently, many EU citizens take things for granted, but this pandemic has proven how being European, actually saves lives.
In the future, we would like to extend this project to collect the experiences of as many people as possible, in order to transmit the message of the EU being a positive actor in the daily life of every European citizen.
El concurso “Mi Europa 2030” es organizado por el Consejo Europeo de Relaciones Exteriores (ECFR) y esglobal.es con el patrocinio de la Embajada de Alemania en España y en el marco de la Presidencia Alemana en el Consejo de la UE.
