JEF Turku is still alive and breathing, despite the prevailing exceptional circumstances. TENu’s activities have continued through planning and organising upcoming events and by writing on social media. The coronavirus pandemic has affected us all in one way or another. However, we feel it would be interesting to take this moment to dig into something that does not deal with pandemic statistics or the other future worries it has caused.
It was recently 70 years since Robert Schuman put forward his proposal to the states of Europe for a new kind of cooperation between them. The idea behind Schuman’s proposal was to make wars between European states impossible, and it has proved remarkably successful. This proposal is seen as the beginning of the European Union, which is why the date of its declaration, 9 May, was named Europe Day. Traditionally on Europe Day, thousands of people take part in various discussions, concerts and events across Europe, raising awareness of the EU at the same time. On last year’s Europe Day we were in the middle of the whirlwind of the European elections, but this year the situation was different. In honour of Europe Day 2020, the various EU institutions organised a range of activities, but this time online.
We at TENu have also jumped into the wonderful world of the internet by taking part in webinars and remote events, among other things, and by becoming even more active on social media. In honour of Europe Day, we reflected on what it means to be European in our Instagram stories. Worry about the coronavirus pandemic has filled many people’s thoughts this spring, which is why it was refreshing to focus on more positive things for a while. That is why, in this blog post too, we wanted to focus on something other than “the thing itself”. In the reflections of our board members, both smaller and bigger things came up that are part of being European. These included the European Health Insurance Card, the ease of travel and open borders, culture, education, the possibility of consular assistance in any EU country, democracy, and the safety of online shopping. In times like these, it becomes especially concrete what the EU has made possible for us and how close it has brought us to the rest of Europe. It is nice, for example, to reminisce about moments from a student exchange in Marseille, Athens or anywhere else, and conversations about Jari Litmanen, olive oil in food, our countries’ military history, the differences between toilets, or even the number of Eurovision wins.
Thinking about these things also illustrates quite easily the extent to which the EU affects our daily lives. Europe is also visible, for example, in our home city of Turku, where it enables various construction schemes and other projects (if you want to know more about these, do check out the saved highlights on @turuneurooppanuoret on Instagram!). One might well conclude that the European Union is not some distant, bureaucratic and unreachable machinery of officials operating on its own cloud, but rather a versatile whole that comes down to the level of the Union’s citizens and enables cooperation at many levels.
Text: Alina Hirvinen, Anni Taavila, Cia Ylenius
The authors are first-year students of political science and political history. In JEF Turku, Alina serves as events officer, Anni as treasurer and Cia as excursions officer.
