Sparks of Europeanness

Is this feeling a vanishing, delusional mirage or not?

I am Italian, therefore European, at least according to the mere depiction provided by geopolitical maps.

Do I feel European? Do I have some flickering sense of European group or social identity?

Do you? Does anybody?

During my 'vagrancy' I encountered several situations in which the speaker identified his origins with a broader area than the one claimed by his passport, when asked the common question:

"Where do you come from?"

I have never heard anybody identifying himself as European. I often hear African people, mostly sub-Saharan, proudly recognizing themselves as African citizens, or having African origins, and specifying the country just when asked a second time. The American continent is a different and peculiar case. The northern part is mostly shortened to just America or the US (except for Canada of course, or Alaska), and the overall idea is related to American citizenship intended as being a citizen of the United States of America, or estadounidense, as Spanish language precisely defines. This feeling is not shared by the southern counterpart where several states with sensibly different historical background, coexists, but without any predominant supranational organisations (Mercosur and USAN are not the case). I am pretty sure I've never heard anybody identifying himself as South American. Similarly, I have never witnessed anybody labelling himself as solely Asian, either Central, Southern or Eastern. I cannot say about Oceania, since I met just some proud Aussies and Kiwis when there, and they may not be representative of the whole extensive continent, but I suppose that the reasoning is applicable even within this area.

Let's move back to the old continent.

"What does it mean to be European?"

Where and when are we supposed to see, or at least look for, a sense of Europeanness? Could it be in the European Parliament, or in the numerous European organisations? Or perhaps in the unified currency, the euro (€)? Maybe while experiencing the Erasmus Programme, or when hearing enthusiastic, although nostalgic, stories about it.

Europe is an ever-expanding melting pot, an incredible cultural mix with a prominent historical heritage within a relatively small-scale territory. Europe is facing a tough crisis, but it is among Europeans where I've heard and felt the most a desire of change, a latent but optimistic spark of recovery. A strong determination to be part of this long-awaited rebirth, but not to compete with emerging markets worldwide, but in the hope of cooperation and mutual help between them, wherever possible. It is needed to be aware that this may be, and it should be, the only and the best way to achieve it.

This said, I am not sure that if a feeling of Europeanness ever was, will still exist and evolve in something stronger in the near future. Nonetheless, I want to be part of it. And yes, I believe in sparks of Europeanness in (some) organisations. Yes, I still want to believe that there is a feeble gleam of it even in the common currency, despite harsh critics. And definitely yes, I was one of the (many) lucky ones who participated in this ambitious project, the Erasmus Programme, regardless of the opponents, and I am hoping to join it again for an even broader-minded, collaborative experience, the Erasmus Mundus.

I am aware that a potential aura of Europeanness may imply and involve much more than what briefly addressed in this article. Nevertheless, I just wanted to point out that there may be so many situations and contexts where strong-willed people, or groups of people, with enough knowledge and devotion can make an even small but significant difference, and then another one, and one more…