Post photo: Greek Parliament | © Hugo Petitjean on Pixabay
Our Europe is in danger! Europe is not only crumbling at its edges, it is also eroding from its center; and all this 100 years after the start of an unprecedented mass murder and 25 years after the fall of the wall - its end, which was previously believed to be final. Some fellow citizens already suspect that politics must be about more than redistributing funds.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 only seems to have regional significance and our civil rights, last enshrined in the year 2000 as fundamental rights of the European Union, are being questioned more and more often: the secrecy of post and telecommunications apparently only exists on paper, freedom of opinion and information is now also being limited within the EU, freedom of travel, freedom of assembly and the right to choose one's place of residence should only apply to some of our fellow citizens and many of us are increasingly giving up our right to vote and participate in joint tasks, such as working in associations, clubs and parties. As long as we Europeans are promised financial security, we seem to want to swallow everything.
We European federalists vehemently oppose this development. We want a Europe united in diversity, we want a democratic Europe, federally structured and committed to peace, we want a Europe of citizens! This is what we work and advertise for. That is why we are campaigning for the highest possible voter turnout and are calling on our fellow citizens to vote for the 8th European Parliament on May 25th this year. That's why we organize the annual meeting point Europe in Heilbronn and show our fellow citizens that Europe is actually already working quite well today.
The European meeting point has now become an integral part of Heilbronn's cultural and social life. This great event only succeeds because many fellow citizens of Heilbronn and its surroundings come together voluntarily throughout the year, are committed to our meeting place Europe and allow it to arise again and again, now for the 25th time. These fellow citizens are supported by other institutions and companies in order to be able to offer all visitors a colorful festival of international understanding on a Saturday during Europe Week, during which the most diverse culinary wishes are also addressed and more than fulfilled. This annual brochure is dedicated to all these people, the organizers, artists, singers, dancers, musicians, choreographers, cooks, mothers and fathers as well as all other helpers, participating associations, supporting institutions and companies. Because without these people there would be no Europe as a meeting point, without these people Europe would not function so well in Heilbronn on a small scale and without these people our Europe united in diversity would be just another "hollow" concept in the social and political coexistence of our time. We wish you all a pleasant time at this year's Meeting Point Europe and ask you to vote on May 25, 2014.
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. I understand England only when I see where I, as a Swiss, do not fit in. I understand Europe, our greatest problem, only when I see where I as a European do not fit into the world. Through my acquaintance with many Americans, and my trips to and in America, I have obtained an enormous amount of insight into the European character; it has always seemed to me that there can be nothing more useful for a European than some time or another to look out at Europe from the top of a skyscraper. "
Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1963)
