The Euromania of Integration

Hello! Europe, hold on! Here we come! Not a day goes by in the news or on the first page of the newspapers without us stumbling against some great words, harshly scratching our eyes and ears: integration, adherence, communitarian strategies. Right after we find the community acquis or the safeguarding clause, structural funds or subsidies. The politicians and the representatives in administration have made it a ritual out of chattering about integration, with the seriousness of the Shamans convinced that the rain comes faster if invoked unhesitatingly. They have no meaning.

FUTURE. The Romanians believe that their star will be high on the flag of the European Union in 2007. The politicians boast they "will do anything" for fulfilling this national wish.

The man in the street, the ordinary citizen, who doesn’t quite memorize the sophisticated ideas, together with the clerks, politicians and analysts, fell into the charm of the meaningless words. And then, he tries to find a meaning based on his own knowledge and imagination. Just that he won’t look stupid. I mean, look, the parliament members and the Ministers use a lot of them and look how prosper and plump they are.

MYTHS

So, on every information channel, there is a murmuring advice, data and numbers - all related to our entrance in the EU - torrent going towards the fair. When in the middle of the people the respective avalanche stops and becomes a marsh. Because the words lose their true meaning on the road between the transmitter and the receiver, in the same way a bird loses its feathers; the people get only the skeletons of the ideas, but they stick to anything. And then, they improvise. They invent. Myths. They enrich the contemporary stupidity mythology and get into the collective mentality.

QUESTIONS

Such myths built on ignorance? Say a number. Ask the men in the streets about the changes in their lives that the integration in the EU will bring and you might hear any answer. The Romanian builds on the skeleton of the information heard from the authorities. What? Cataclysms, like some in which we’ll never speak Romanian ever again after the invasion of the West, and they accept us only to dump their sewage in our glades and springs. On the other pole, unrealistic enthusiasms saying we’ll have salaries like the ones in Holland and the Germans would come to dig wells in our yards.

ANSWERS

Damaging mythology! It is well maintained by the authorities, because most of the Government members know the balance between our possibilities and our assumed obligations as well as Romania’s offer for Europe, and prefer to develop of the "we’ll see then!". "Then", when we will suddenly realize that we have no idea about what we signed for, what we have to do and we mustn’t do. When lies and ignorance, which are so comfortable nowadays, will hardly slam our faces.

THE COUNTDOWN

It is already late. But, even in the last moment, it is useful to analyze our situation, and sincerely weigh our surpluses and lacks, our actives and passives, the little engines that can put us in the heart of Europe and cannon balls that hold our Levantine feet tied down. Therefore, we should look ourselves in the mirror, leaving aside any shyness. We should sincerely tell the world about us, about our wants and our strong points. We should also let them know about our expectations.

PLUSES AND MINUSES

The agreements related to the adherence are being signed one after another in Bucharest these days. It’s become almost an automatism, and I wonder if anyone ever reads them, at least after they are translated. In this fever of the mechanical and without criticism acceptance, between the fatigues of the hasty and trembling signatures, the "centre" of the country forgets about informing the "margins" anymore about the measures taken faster than they think. This is how Romania gets to watch stultified the things happening to it. There are too less people looking to know about the things they would have to do, there is a too small number of people looking to take advantage from an opening to the world like no other before. There are three years at most until this opening.

We are sick of just standing and waiting for the integration into something we don’t know about, nor why or, especially, how. This is why we, the Jurnalul National editorial office, we took a little trip in the country to find out people’s knowledge on the near future. Therefore, we will pass through every district for a week to find out about the preparations for Europe. We will find out the citizens’ questions for the leaders. Because they are not heard, we will ask the questions for them and we will not settle for evasive or out of kindness answers.

OUR PURPOSE

We will somehow discover the Romania that will enter the EU in two or three year time. We’ll talk about it to the Romanians such that all the people in all the regions of the country know the opinions of their fellow citizens. And we’ll let the Romanians about their Europe. The adherence treaty is not signed for Bucharest only, but for the entire country. We have no prejudices. Knowing that we have no idea about the life we will find and that we are willing to find out as much as possible. We shall complete our lack of knowledge with the experience of our neighbors that are one step ahead of us, that felt all the advantages and the obligations coming with the EU member status.

We go to fight against the funny myths, to offer explanations for the questions, but not fables. We should confess about our European offer and about our fears. We should translate them for our readers. We shall let everyone know about our successful initiatives, as well as our failures, embarrassing or not. Using the all the multimedia ways we have, we will try to mediate the relationship between the ones who sign and the ones who feel the consequences. We shall make them friends, if possible. And if not, we should at least make them communicate with each other, make them talk the same language.