10 Elections. A history of the European Parliament at the ballot box (1979-2024) June 2024 | Page 156

Generation EU programme .
Other words , like enlargement , progressed , being at last pronounced positively by European Union representatives . Although at too high of a price , the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia brought us new energy invested in enlargement . Ukraine , Moldova and Georgia are now candidate countries . Prior to 2022 , very few , apart from their own populations and the Young European Federalists ( JEF Europe ), had supported the aspirations of those countries to become EU members .
This war created further positive externalities for the enlargement process of the Western Balkans , with the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia finally starting after being stopped many times by vetoes , Bosnia and Herzegovina becoming a candidate country and Kosovo applying for candidate status .
When asked which words best describe their emotional status , Europeans chose uncertainty , frustration , helplessness , anger and fear 1 . Among all those negative emotions , one positive shone through : hope .
A revolution of hope is needed for 2024 and JEF Europe therefore chose hope as the focus of our European election campaign , EurHope . Hope does not mean sitting on your couch hoping things will get better but getting up and acting . Things do not change by themselves ; you have to make it happen . This is the core of active citizenship .
1 . Resilience and recovery : Public opinion one year into the pandemic - European Parliament ’ s Spring 2021 Eurobarometer : https :// www . europarl . europa . eu / at-your-service / files / be-heard / eurobarometer / 2021 / spring-2021-survey / key-findings . pdf
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