site.btaFreedom and Peace Must Be Fought for Every Day, Participants in a Discussion on Europe Day Agree

A public discussion on the topic "Renewing Europe: Politicians and Citizens Building the Future Together" was held at the National Student House in Sofia on Friday. Participants in the discussion united around the idea that freedom and peace are not given, they are something all of us should fight for every day.

The discussion, organized by the European Youth Movement, together with the National Student Confederation and the Union of European Federalists on May 9 - Europe Day, was on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Robert Schuman’s Declaration, which is a founding act of the European Union construction and 80 years of the end of World War II. The participants discussed current topics about the EU and its future.

Bulgarian members of the European Parliament Andrey Kovachev (GERB/EPP), Tsvetelina Penkova (BSP/S&D) and Ilhan Kyuchyuk (MRF/Renew Europe) were guests at the discussion.

“The freedom we have at the moment is not something that has been given to us,” MEP Andrey Kovachev said. "Young people should know that looking at their phone, buying a ticket and being in Frankfurt or Paris in a few hours was absolutely unthinkable for previous generations. This is an achievement of European civilization, which should not be in any way threatened by insane propaganda that will make us fight and hate each other again," he added.

According to the Secretary General of the Union of European Federalists Velko Ivanov, without remembrance there are no roots. “The idea of ​​today's meeting is to go back to our roots and values, such as peace and pluralism,” he said.

“Many European nations have actively participated in the battle, so that we can speak freely today, be able to move around Europe with relatively fewer borders,” MEP Tsvetelina Penkova from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats said during the discussion. The main idea of ​​the EU was for it to be a guarantor of peace. “The lack of diplomacy led to another severe military conflict within Europe. Human life, freedom, peace are the most important values,” Penkova pointed out.

MEP from Renew Europe Ilhan Kyuchyuk believes that the conversation about Europe and the European Union should be held among politicians, representatives of civil society, young people. “Because by definition, the future belongs to young people,” Kyuchyuk said.

"Today's Europe is different from the one we dreamed of when we were students. We wanted the European Union to be "manna from heaven", we wanted Bulgaria to turn into Germany. To have the same standards, streets, the same understanding of the rule of law, of human rights and freedoms. Well, it didn't happen. Because we clearly had the wrong idea that the European Union could be the solution to all problems," he added. The EU back then cannot be compared to today's EU due to a number of factors, Kyuchyuk said.