Age: 43

Country of origin: Finland

Country of residence: Finland

Profession: Teacher of Early Education (M.A.)

 

Q: How does the EU influence your day-to-day life?

A: The biggest concrete thing of course is traveling without passport control or currency exchange between different countries. On a more abstract level it is sense of belonging to a CIVIL AND HUMANIST power block in a ever more tumultuous and polarized world.

 

Q: When you think about the EU, what is the first picture that comes to your mind?

A: The glass architecture of Brussels’ EU buildings and the row of flags…

 

Q: End the sentence: “Twenty years from now the EU … “

A: …has hopefully succeeded in creating a true supranational identity and feeling of European citizenship.

 

Q: Choose three adjectives for the EU!

A: Bureaucratic, elitist, civil.

 

Q: Explain the EU to an 8y old child (elementary school) in one sentence.

A: The EU is a project of peace and co-operation where different voices and opinions are summoned together, aiming to a common good for all participants of that project.

 

Q: If the EU was an animal, what would it be and why?

A: An elephant: big, heavy and slow to change course (due to bureaucracy)

 

Q: Is there a dish (in your country) that describes Europe best, and why?

A: Kalakukko, “well protected inside”. There is a hard rye shell and soft rye, lard and vendace filling.