eddie, italy

Eddie, 40 years old, owns his own ’Ice-Cafe’ in Fehmarn, Germany. He leaves his home country, Italy, every year for a period of  8 months to take care of his business.The rest of the time is shared between Romania and Italy.

Question: What is the first idea that comes to your mind when you think about the EU? Eddie: I think about the EU leaders. They should do in practice what they say in their speeches: Take the decisions as close as possible to the citizens. I stand for a deeper integration but a popular and tolerant political discussion is necessary at first with the people from different Member States.

Question: What are the fears of your country regarding EU?
Eddie: As an Italian I do not see any fear…In our country there is no such thing.

Question: Do you know anything about the relationship between Italy and Germany or France?
Eddie: No, not too much. What I certainly do know is that Italy has a good relationship with the powerful Member States of the EU.

Question: Do you know how the EU works?
Eddie: Generally speaking, yes. I think the EU acts as a state in the global world. I am interested in the decision-making process of the EU, but I must admit that I have never made any special efforts to find out more about it.

Question: Do you agree with the fact that most of the legislation comes from EU?
Eddie: We have common rules because it is a community. However, only the rules which can be discussed at the national level are welcomed and constructive. The rules that are imposed from the top are questionable because they have different consequences in the different Member States. The European Parliament offers a good solution to this problem. With representative from all Member States, each country has a chance to express its own national problems.

Question: What should the EU be focused on?
Eddie: The EU should be focused on the preservation of cultural diversity more than any other political matter. When you travel in Europe you immediately see the economical and social differences between the countries. Some of the current Member States live in a process of growing technology but others do not. This is one of the greatest gaps in the EU. However, if the Member States can’t tolerate each other’s specificities, then we can’t pretend to live in a Union.  

Question: Are you for a federal EU or a close collaboration between Member States?
Eddie: I’m not necessarily for federalism. Countries are very different. The European reality is too complicated to be federalist.

Question: What do you think about having a common language in the EU?
Eddie: I believe this should be the least concern of the EU. With one word in English one in French and another one in Italian, I can handle myself very well in Europe. However, time will decide if this is a necessity or not. A long time ago, Italian people were not able to understand each other from one region to the other but later they chose to speak the Italian language we have nowadays. It was not imposed to them. It was a natural process…

Question: What is the worse thing you think of when talking about the EU?
Eddie: There are two aspects; the first one is the presumption that immigrants ‘steal’ the working places in Europe because they accept lower payment. The second one is that people are afraid of losing their national identity. The reason behind these fears is perhaps the Ever-closer integration program which is publicly seen as irreversible. Hopefully, this program can be corrected if it turns out to be wrong. Moreover, the EU will never touch to the integrity of the Member States: Italy will remain Italy and Germany will always be Germany.

Question: Do you agree with having a European army?
Eddie: It depends on the purpose of this army. Theoretically, a destructive army is not necessary anymore, although history shows us cases where destruction was necessary in the name of defense.

Question: Should there be a limit to the EU?
Eddie: There should be a geographical limit. But then, again, the globalization matter intervenes and further enlargement will soon be questioned.

Question: Do you find the EU as an example of democracy?
Eddie: No, I don’t see the EU as an example of democracy. This is a dream, a necessity… Europe will be democratic when I’ll be able to move from one country to another, from one city to another and have the feeling in the same time that it is my country or my town. The acceptance of multiculturalism illustrates the kind of democracy we need in Europe. In the places where it was promoted, the economic and social development was also higher because cultural exchange leads to innovation.

Question: What do you have to say about the migration phenomenon?
Eddie: Firstly, if we want a common market, then labor market should be included in it. Secondly, we have to face the demographical aspect. Immigration represents a solution where the born rate is very low. The third aspect is competition. The intellectual and working skills competition should be freed also. The immigrants find working places because they are available. Why so much fear? The European leaders should focus on creating new jobs, and not on deciding who is more suitable to occupy the places that already exist.

Question: Do you think you are well informed about the EU?
Eddie: I think there is enough information. The citizen’s interest for this information is another aspect.