“Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan.It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity”
Robert Schuman
Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War and seventy years after the Schuman Declaration, another dangerous spectrum torments Europe and the whole world, once again testing our capacity to respond jointly to the great challenges of the present time.
The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete well-being physical, mental and social and not just the absence of affections and illnesses”. The health crisis we are experiencing violently affects all dimensions of the self. In Europe and in the world millions of people, millions of citizens see life more complicated, their income reduced, their jobs lost, their well-being suddenly shuddered. And they would like to see Europe proactively countering both the immediate and the long-term effects of this crisis.
When we greet the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in an effusive way, it is because we see the seed that bore fruit and allowed the construction of a more solidary and just Europe, despite the imbalances that remain and now, to a large extent, are worsening. Seventy years later, Europe cannot leave its citizens behind and needs to sow new seeds to nurture the path of progress and halt the violent impacts of the current crisis.
At the Lifelong Learning Platform, we believe that the way forward lies in a ‘learning Europe’. As we hope it is now clear in every corner of the globe, learning does not manifest itself only in classrooms but is a fundamental part of our common living together. Learning for innovation, learning for our future jobs, but also learning from and with each other, learning for and from our personal development and learning to foster our values of solidarity, peace and democracy. We therefore call on decision-makers to take Europe forward on the basis of a renewed role for education and lifelong learning, to help lay the foundation for the Europe of solidarity that Robert Schuman so ardently aspired for.
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