Beyond rhetoric

"EU citizenship is more than a theoretical concept: it is a practical reality that brings tangible benefits to citizens". Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the Commission, summed up with these words the task and the role that the European institutions have assigned to 2013 European Year of Citizens. Opportunities to be grasped. It is a significant proposal, considering that in 2013 recurs the twentieth anniversary of EU citizenship, stipulated in the Maastricht Treaty of 1993, while in one year will be held the European Parliament elections, which will involve with an active political role 500 million of the current 27 EU Member States citizens, as well as those of Croatia, which will be entering the "common home" in six months. "We need the direct involvement of citizens in building a stronger and more political Union", said Commissioner Reding. "That is why 2013 is the European Year of Citizens – a year dedicated to you and your rights as Europeans". Starting January 10 – marking the official opening of the Year, in Dublin – a number of events will be held across the EU (the program can be viewed by logging on http://europa.eu/citizens-2013) that include conferences, workshops, competitions, initiatives for the schools and for internauts… Thus the coming twelve months are bound to echo the same dynamism of the previous years which placed major emphasis on the theme of active ageing and solidarity between generations (2012), the value of volunteering (2011), the fight on poverty and social exclusion (2010), creativity and the capacity of innovation (2009), intercultural and interreligious dialogue (2008). But cherishing the experience of the previous years, it could be possible to prevent certain flaws, or superficial mistakes, which could be easily made in the framework of "celebrative" initiatives of this kind. Avoiding elitist proposals. First of all, it will be necessary to extend to all of Europe the events for the Year of Citizens, starting with the EU "capitals" (Brussels and Strasbourg) to include national ones, from Stockholm to La Valletta, from London to Sofia, Madrid, Berlin, Warsaw, as well as small and medium cities and distant regions, seeking to extend the message of the Year throughout the Union. It will be important to try and involve all EU citizens: youths, labour workers, entrepreneurs, old people, mothers and volunteers, sportsmen and disabled citizens, school pupils, and associations alike… Indeed the underlying message of the Year is that all EU citizens possess specific rights and duties, stipulated by the treaties and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights; thus every person is tasked with the duty to contribute to the creation of a democratic Europe, "united in diversity", for solidarity, open to the rest of the world. By involving citizens and "vital worlds" (starting with the families) of the whole of Europe it will be possible to prevent – by means of significant commitments – elitist and oligarchic approaches that emerged over the past years, when the proposals for the Years involved certain population brackets while ignoring many more. It will be also important to let do with the rhetoric that often characterised similar initiatives. In particular, special efforts should be made to increase public awareness of the rights and duties linked to European citizenship, which alone is not enough to reaffirm a "full citizenship": a concept that only a small proportion of EU population is familiar with. A "community of values". Another important challenge aimed at stepping up European citizenship consists in reiterating, during the various occasions that will emerge during the year, the pillars of the historical process of integration (starting with the creation of a Europe of peace) along with the wide range of rights reaffirmed in EU treaties exemplifying those common principles whereby the EU is more than a mere political organization to become, as often affirmed, a "community of values". It will then be indispensable to enable the emergence of the "concreteness" of EU action for citizens’ lives, showing that European politics, in a delicate relationship with national politics identified in the subsidiarity principle, brings real and true advantages to the lives of individuals. Further results could ensue if the Community project were consistent, brave, far reaching, in order to meet the challenges of our times. Finally, upon the opening of the Year of Citizens, the European Union with its institutions could take on the commitment, at the end of a twelve-month period, to draw a balance of what has been achieved until today, assessing the achievements and possible drawbacks, in order to resume with greater determination the engagement for European citizenship.