Vox Pop: Lia from Italy

A: The EU influences my day-to-day life in many ways: Crossing the border of any EU country in the blink of an eye, in my case especially back and forth from Belgium to Italy, being taught my favourite subjects by teachers that come from all over Europe, and that probably didn’t have any trouble moving to Italy, and finally also the fact that so much value is given to language-learning in schools, which I also have been given the chance to do throughout my whole school career - just to mention a few. Pointing out all these opportunities and possibilities that we as EU citizens are given, might seem redundant, especially to people from my generation, who were born directly into the EU, but they wouldn’t be so obvious if it wasn’t for the EU itself.

A: Some old picturesque stone building in Brussels with the EU flag swaying in the wind on its facade surrounded by flags of the member states. If I’m allowed to interpret “picture” in the way of saying “movie”, then this image would zoom into one of the building’s windows, where my grandfather is sitting at his work desk in the 1960s in front of a telephone and cables, connecting EU employees’ phones.

A: will dominate the world. No, but jokes apart, I think it will be the means that allows Europe to keep its linguistic and cultural variety, while also promoting everybody’s sense of cosmopolitanism and respect towards each other.

A: diverse, impactful, dark-blue-with-yellow-stars

A: The EU is like a big family of nations that some people created to help countries work together, instead of against each other.

A: A bear. Sometimes it hibernates a bit too long before taking action, but overall, it’s very caring and protective.

A: Pizza. If you have a solid base (EU legislation) you can put random ingredients on top (the different countries) that seemingly have nothing in common and make it work, you just need a decent oven.