We All are Europe - AESAEC

2009, 101). In spite of this, Europe is believed to be “a wonderfully successful and globally admired
project, though too often it is regarded merely as a project and rarely as an outcome” (Marcel
Gauchet, idem), although in fact the results and outcomes are many, just as the aims of the European
Union are manifold. It is with this understanding that this AESAEC manual is designed to
make readers, and particularly you, senior European citizens, familiar with how and what has been
achieved within EU, and what the results and outcomes have been, primarily in the areas that directly
concern you.
As planned, the EU has become a framework for numerous enriching cultural, social, economic and
other transactions among its member states. It established a common currency and it has provided
for common security. Nevertheless, it has also failed several times and in several ways. Thus,
Jacques Delors, Marcel Gauchet, Cohn Bendit and others are convinced that Europe has failed in
imposing itself as a political force and it has failed in imposing itself in the processes of globalisation.
Moreover, member states do not truly understand that “union is a force” and that union means
community, giving, as well as ensuring receiving. In order to receive member states should more
willingly give up a part of their power. 2
Nevertheless, in times of economic, financial, political and social crisis, the EU is believed to have a
new chance, that is, the chance to tackle, democratically, issues of common and global interest,
such as environmental issues, reversing the global trend of the market economy (Habermas, 2009,
p.105) and demographic changes. These issues cannot be tackled in isolation, but on the contrary,
they should become subject to large-scale public debate and real civil dialogue (Jacques Delors,
idem). Nowadays most European institutions and advisory bodies (European Commission, European
Parliament, European Economic and Social Council) act accordingly. “The development of a European
wide political public sphere - that is of a communicative network extending beyond the national
borders and specialising in the relevant questions - is of central importance to the emergence
of the European identity, says Habermas (2009, p.87). It is time for Europe and its institutions to
become an agora, a truly deliberative space, including the representatives of all its citizens. Members
of the AESAEC project firmly believe that older citizens should be more present in the shaping
of European policies and in the decision making processes pertaining to them and their cooperation
with other generations. The endeavours of the AESAEC project are consistent with Jaques Delors’
argument that in the future, “the European dynamics will be much more dependent on the contribution
of the European citizens than on the European institutions”. (Jacques Delors, idem). For this
purpose it is most important that European citizens, including senior citizens, increase their knowledge
about the European Union, its institutions and its achievements.
How theories of integration help us to understand the nature and the aims of the European Union.
Some prominent integration theories:
In 1920 federalists argued that European countries should form a natural entity and that they should
never again enter into an inter-European war. Altiero Spinelli declared that the nation states have
lost their raison d’etre...
Functionalists, like David Mitrany, rightly pointed out that international organisations are meant to
address priorities dictated by human needs and therefore such organisations should modify their
tasks and functions according to the needs of the moment. Such orientation is consistent with the
fact that the European Union has become so interested in old age, older people and older workers.
Ageing represents a large demographic change which requires changes in the relationships between
generations and also demands a different cultural model or organisation of ages. In addition to this,
new policies are needed.
The Transactionalist Theory, supported by Karl Deutsch, asserts that the sense of community among
states would depend on the establishment of a network for mutual transactions. Networks can be
seen everywhere. Framework programmes and structural funds are there to support networking,
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2 German citizens were at one time against the Euro, but Helmut Kohl persuaded them that the Euro was good for everybody
in Europe, and consequently they accepted it.