4th Learning Circle

4th Learning Circle of Eunity – Outcomes

Topic: European or National Identity?

The European Union is composed of 27 independent sovereign countries which are known as member states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. There are three official candidate countries, Croatia, FYROM and Turkey; the western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are officially recognised as potential candidates.

Nowadays, some Greek people don’t like the identity of the ‘native Greek’ so they support the European closure. People from England and Greece are believed to be the least European thinking. Media and better education are needed in order to persuade Greeks to become more Europeans. Also the separation of the political role of religion from the spiritual.

Today, it is obvious that it is difficult for the majority of the citizens to understand how the countries function and the lowly educated people can’t understand the complicated law system of the European Union.

This means we have to confirm that free and high quality education will be provided to everyone, as also extended information from the media.

The European identity is mostly a product of our political way of thinking, for example, Greeks accept the European identity, but they are afraid of losing any connection with their tradition and culture. This causes fear of foreign cultures and nations. Some classic Greek spots are pessimism, wrong management of their sources and misery, which prevents the understanding of our European morals. Further, Greece can’t manage correctly the sources provided by the Union, but can claim more than the recently joined members.

The characteristics of a new European are versatility, interest for travelling and money as a mean of having more activities.

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki has the 3^rd position in the list of Erasmus, which means it promotes the raise of our European thinking…

4th Learning Circle (agenda)

4th Learning Circle of Eunity

Topic: European or National identity?

• Chances of finding a job in the European Union
• Changing the functioning system of the European Union
• Take advantage of European programs
• European and alternative education
• Promotion of the European idea
• Where is Europe going to end functionally?
• Will Russia enter the European Union?

Welcome!

This blog is created by a group of people, AIESEC members from Greece, as part of a wider learning environment that the Local Committee of AIESEC in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki strives to provide to its members, interns, university, far and near community.

For more than10 years Europe has been in an intense integration process. Europe’s role, future and identity is lately being questioned. So, what does Europe mean for us? Do we really feel European citizens? In order to understand ourselves and others better as citizens, we need to understand our history, culture, norms and values (social), politics, economy and legal rights and responsibilities.

AIESEC is activating youth citizenship and leadership in different areas at European and global level. European citizenship is one of the issues we want to create awareness about, to educate and to engage young people. We want to create a space where young people can create a common understanding around EU matters and explore upon the future of European Union. We need leaders to shape and ensure Europe’s future in the context of the globalisation in a positive way and engaging youth in this process can be the foundation for a truly European community.

So, the objectives of EUnity Project are

~To create awareness and to educate young people about the realities of the European Union with focus on the integration processes from political, economical and cultural point of view;
~To empower and build the needed attitude for an European citizen by engaging youth in discussions around these issue;
~To promote cultural diversity and cultural understandingthrough direct exposure of young people to multicultural realities within European Union.