Prof. Ulrike Guérot about the idea of the European Republic

Interview with Professor Ulrike Guérot, Head of the Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy – Danube University Krems, and Founder and Director of the European Democracy Lab (EDL).
Professor Guérot talks about the idea of the European Republic and the union of citizens as one of its basic pillars.

What does it mean to be a citizen? Do we need to share the same values? According to Professor Ulrike Guérot, citizenship, which is a heritage of the 1789 French Revolution, is about equal rights.
In Europe today, we have a single market and legal equality of goods and money, established through a single currency. We have regulations on merchandise, food safety, roaming fees, which make us all equal as consumers.
But, do we have one democracy and equal rights as citizens? In the essence of citizenship – voting, access to social rights and taxation, we remain the citizens of nation-states.
In order to establish a true union, we need to claim equal rights as citizens everywhere on the continent. The essence of knowing our rights is education – reading, learning, knowing our history and European heritage.