What is the European Union for?

Today is Europe day — the annual celebration of peace and unity in Europe. In 1950, Robert Schuman, French foreign minister, set out an idea to forge unity out of the rubble of war — through economic cooperation.

To emerge from the war and poverty and create rapidly rising prosperity for now half a billion people is no small achievement.

But what was one of the best ideas of the 20th century, to some, now looks to some like a Remington typewriter in a smartphone world.*

I believe in the EU — but I hear the criticisms daily – a bloated bureaucracy; a system were corporations can bend the rules; a capitalist conspiracy; a socialist conspiracy. The list goes on.

The one thing shines clearly through each critique. The EU has failed to articulate what it is and what (or more importantly — who) it is for. In doing so, it successes — from massive increases in prosperity, to basic improvements in peoples lives through standards on workers rights, food safety, or scrapping mobile roaming charges are forgotten.

As someone once said: ‘Europe is a thought — it needs to become a feeling.’

Speak to any American and they know what it feels like to be from the United States — they might fundamentally disagree with other Americans — even the President, but the majority feel American and respect the institutions and values on which it was built. A global film industry sells the feeling and the world buys it — it has for decades.

Of course history and language means the analogy with America only goes so far. But fly from Washington DC to Brussels (as I do frequently) and the absence of a that feeling has left Europe open to populists and extremists that deal in a currency of fear and outrage.

Right now that currency is cheap. Think politics in Hungary and Poland. But also think of the long held norms of humanitarianism — sacrificed at the altar of political expediency in the Turkey deal on migration and on EU trust funds designed to keep people out.

To become a feeling, European Leaders must articulate a vision which is more than fiscal harmonisation, a currency union, or a treaty.

European leaders work for us. As preparations for next year’s European elections start ramping up, we must think about what kind of Europe we want — the kind of Europe that will make its half a billion citizens feel proud.

Do we want a Europe that protects the poorest — at home but also abroad. Africa is a continent just 14km from Europe, whose population will double by 2050 — a young continent that could be the engine of the global economy with the right investments and incentives — at precisely the time Europe is getting older.

· Do we want a Europe that stands up to bullies who push the boundaries of freedom of speech or flout the Geneva Conventions?

· Do we want a Europe that regulates global monopolies that apply surveillance techniques the NSA can only dream of and sell our data for a profit?

· Do we want a Europe where leaders are transparent and are accountable for their decisions?

These are the kinds of questions that all too often get forgotten in the back and forth of technical files and political fights.

But if we don’t call them out and force our leaders to answer them in a public forum, they will, de-facto, be answered anyway — and the answers will likely lack vision or purpose.

But if leaders answer these questions — then do the work on making sure this vision is reflected in the EU Budget, internal market regulation, the EU its partnerships with third countries, the EU could, for a second time, play a historic role in creating stability and prosperity, not just for its own citizens, but for the billions more that need it most.

*I picked up this phrase from Anthony Banbury’s description of the UN.