I was taking part in the first ever European Youth Summit in Rome, where the young generation urged their political leaders of the time to listen to our voice and then act to safeguard our common values of peace, democracy, human rights, subsidiarity, sustainable development and transparent decision making. We wanted a Europe of citizens and a true federal Constitution that would empower the citizens and give Europe a single voice in the global arena.

However, the “we” from Rome was a fragile one even at that point, as the views of many youngsters of the time reflected certain national opinions and sentiments on important issues concerning the ways and means of achieving those goals and ideals we all did share.

And this is exactly what plagued European integration all along and finally contributed to its end. Namely the unwillingness or incapability of a growing majority of citizens and especially their leaders, to put their differences and national or even regional or local agendas aside in favour of a common and united Europe. It was the selfishness of the human nature and nation states that prevailed, as Europe failed to win the hearts of its people.

One cannot win the hearts of its citizens by conducting business in an undemocratic, non-transparent and detached fashion.

As oversimplified as this analysis may sound now it is also understandable why European citizens moved away from the EU. Ever since the historic enlargement in the year 2004, which overcame the Cold War division between East and West, the EU has failed to deepen its integration and agree on rules of governance that would satisfy no one but work in favour of a European interest for all. One cannot win the hearts of its citizens by conducting business in an undemocratic, non-transparent and detached fashion.

The combination of ill-equipped EU institutions with flawed decision making processes that usually ended in tautological statements such as “we agreed to disagree” and the fact the Union remained primarily an economic and profit-oriented Union led to its inevitable dissolution.

What seems today to be a utopian idea of 30+ European states and peoples working together in a democratic and transparent fashion in order to provide better living conditions, peace and safety for all of the people almost became reality. But the majority of Europeans and leaders of my time did not have the vision or the guts to pursue it. Consequently the European dream we once believed in and fought for disappeared into the history books.

This article was initially published in the European decline version of the Daily European. See the entire newspaper in pdf format here.