🇪🇺 Europeanness‼️ - Can the EU contribute globally to the big questions of our times❓

👉 Europeanness describes the quality or character of being European. Is this something good or something bad⁉️

❓Who are the great Europeans? How did they impact today’s readiness of us Europeans to contribute to solutions for global crisis❓

😔Shortly after Christmas this year, two politicians who were of outstanding importance for the development of Europe died almost simultaneously. Both fronts share today's Europe from different places, both have a responsibility for the concept of Europeanness that we live today: Jaques Delors and Wolfgang Schäuble, two European politicians.

😞▶️ On one hand we grieve the death of Jacques Delors.

🇪🇺Delors played a key role in reviving and promoting the idea of ​​European integration.

💶 The introduction of the Euro as the highlight of the EU career during his time at the head of the EU Commission.

📈 The internal market and the beginning of a common foreign policy fell during Delors' term of office.

€ The highlight of his political career was in 1991, when the introduction of the euro was decided in Maastricht. He was familiar with currencies and money, Delors himself was a banker. He once described his role as follows: "While the others are making big speeches, I stand in the kitchen at the stove to make sure the soup doesn't boil over.“

🇩🇪 He played an important, European role in German unity. He dropped reservations earlier than others and supported reunification. With his officials, he ensured the almost seamless integration of the GDR into what was then the European Community.

🇪🇸🇵🇹🇸🇪🇫🇮🇦🇹 Under his leadership, the European Community, as it was then known, grew from ten members to twelve - Spain and Portugal joined the EC in 1986. In 1995 Sweden, Austria and Finland were added.

🤔 Delors later founded think tanks in Brussels, Paris and Berlin that aimed to promote European federalism.

😞▶️ On the other hand, there was Wolfgang Schäuble.

🇩🇪He supported Helmut Kohl, made him strong and powerful and took on an important role in the unification of the two German states within Europe.

💙🇪🇺 He advocated very early on for a so-called core Europe, basically a Europe of Charlemagne, which he believed would have greater clout. He believed in this Europe, but not really in the larger Europe. Therefore, he imagined a Europe in different circles, the core with a high degree of integration, the outer circles with less and less belonging to this core.

🇬🇷 This became clear in the financial crisis, when he actually wanted to force out a member of the inner core, namely the Eurozone. It was Greece, which, despite its undetected actions, fortunately remained a member of the Eurozone.

⤵️ Wolfgang Schäuble was unable to really establish any of his concepts, but he also caused damage by constantly promoting those concepts. So he invented a spending policy for his country and also for Europe that was based on the ideal of the Swabian housewife. In other words, you can only spend what you have.

📉On the other hand, this also meant that there was no significant investment in networks or infrastructure. Today, Germany is at the center of Europe as an example of backwardness in all of these infrastructures, starting with the German railways and ending with digital infrastructure. Unfortunately, he was able to assert these ideas across Europe, which slowed down and slowed down many investments that were essentially disabled.

📚In 2007 I published a book called European Patriotism.

I also wanted to show the role of Europe between the USA and China. The idea of ​​how we can increase our competitiveness is more relevant than ever. If I am allowed to classify both European personalities, then I have to say: Jacques Delors stands for the unity of the great, enlarged Europe. He not only campaigned for the enlargement of Europe, but also for its deepening, with the same intensity. The abolition of border controls, the establishment of a monetary union and the completion of the internal market speak for themselves. He made a significant contribution to making Europe a powerful entity in this world. On the other hand, Wolfgang Schäuble, for whom the role of appearing to be a real European in times of crisis is too much, but unfortunately only a core European. In the end, he was more concerned with German competitiveness and not so much with looking at the big picture.🇪🇺

Bottom line: Europe was divided, Europe was united, today Europe is weak!

🤩 Honestly? What we need today is more of Jacques Delors’ vision. Despite the fact that the current President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen belongs to the same party of Wolfgang Schäuble, she has a similar visionary spirit and the decisive characteristics of bringing Europe back on track.

Vive l’Europe❗️Es lebe Europa❗️ Long live Europe❗️Viva l’Europa❗️Larga vida a europa❗️ Ζήτω η Ευρώπη❗️Lang leve Europa❗️