Under the same sky… The Europe to come

“We live under the same sky, but we don’t share the same horizon.” The concerned thought of German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer dates back to the beginnings of the common European path and it gains topical relevance, while the ongoing crisis accompanies the transition from one year to the next. Often an image encompasses and expresses a reality or a problem better than many words. This recalls in particular the fragility of the “de facto solidarity” on which, in the thinking of French statesman Robert Schuman, should have been based, since the onset, the Europe of the future, the Europe that overcame the hatred and destruction of WWII. Indeed, the integration process initially set off on the right foot, but now the concrete risk is that the first cornerstone of the “common European home” could collapse because solidarity culturally encompasses all the other values. The global economic crisis followed by the self-interest of States unwilling to give up part of their sovereignty to the Union, coupled by rampaging economy, have transformed the Europe of solidarity into the Europe of national interests, thereby confining it within closed horizons, forcing some European populations to undergo burdensome sacrifices while others defended their own backyards in the belief that this is the way of reclamation, growth, wellbeing. The Community principle whereby each country feels the responsibility to contribute in proportion to its wealth to European common good and, therefore, to the authoritativeness of the EU in the world has been subjected to erosion. Another from of “solidarity” is gaining grounds, and it is one of selfishness. Various mutually sympathetic egoisms flaunt their slogans, their ideologies. And they gain consensus.Analyzes and diagnoses on this phenomenon abound. But an effective therapy that will heal the European Union, whose precarious health is put even more at risk by pessimism and scepticism, is missing. Controversies are not an answer. Rather, the response should consist in a new and powerful European thought capable of shaping farsighted figures who will bring the European Union out of the realm of scrimmages on budget constraints, sovereign debt, indebtedness. Young Europeans in particular, who love Europe more than we write and think of, are expected to be present in this regard.Europe needs to recover not only for herself, but because the lack of a politically and culturally strong united Europe will lead to the absence of a totally original realm, where large and small, ancient and new territories come together on the major theme of the dignity of individuals and peoples.Pope Francis underlined it in Strasbourg on November 25, highlighting the path of encounter as the main road for the rebirth of an old, aging continent. Europe will be saved if the season of patience and intelligence of those gifted with a vision returns, in the awareness that certain appointments with history cannot be delayed. “If Europe is not made today – wrote Alcide de Gasperi in 1954 – it will have to be made in some decades, but what will happen between now and then God only knows.” Sixty years later, this reflection can be read as the confirmation of a failure or as an invitation to correct mistakes and an encouragement to construct responsibility, competence and confidence. De Gasperi’s words stand as an appeal to young people. Europe, which they continue to believe in, is in their hands, in their thoughts, in their commitments. Never before as in this passage from one year to the next is felt the urgent need for a European leadership of the new generations, so that under the same sky there may not be many different horizons or a single monochromatic horizon, but a common and multicoloured horizon only.