70YoungMagazine | Page 6

YoungAction for YouropeVision What does it mean to be a European? Harun-Germany For me, being European means having a sense of community with many different cultures. I think it's great to live on a continent where so many different cultures and worldviews exist simultaneously. Being European means being open-minded.It is much easier to connect with people from other European countries. It is also great that I can travel and learn in other countries more easily. For me, Europe stands for unity, peace, community, hospitality and opportunities. I believe that Europe offers its citizens many chances and opportunities. Europe's great double benefit for us citizens is peace and prosperity. And that is a very practical matter. Peace and prosperity are the basis of our everyday European life, which we citizens enjoy. Without peace and prosperity we would not be able to enjoy the two most practical achievements that Europe offers us: the open borders and the euro, which now defines the European heartland. Europeanness is My Awareness Berfin-Turkey Europeanism is a common identity separate from nation identity. People's language, religion, culture, race are ignored. People have common rules in many areas like economic, social, legal etc. The important thing is that people perform these rules in their lives. European identity brings together different national identities and enables people to respect each other and be open to different ideas. This identity aims to live in peace with mutual understanding. People's individual rights and freedom, social rights, equality of men and women and democracy are important features of a legal social state. European identity gathers all these common characteristics under one title. It is the most important example of how we can meet in common even we are different from each other and be tolerant of other people and have open minds. We need to focus on people's partnerships, not their differences. We have to respect each other, be open to different ideas, not judge people by their language, their religion, their appearance. we're special with our differences. we're beautiful with our differences . 6