Portugal Europe 9 May 2000

European Union

There is no doubt that the participation of young people in constructing the European Union is vital for forming the bases and consolidating a structure whose main components are so heterogeneous – the nations of Europe.

Century-long divisions

Century-long divisions, rivalries and hatreds fired by abundant nationalistic literature that has only recently begun to disappear from school textbooks, cannot easily or quickly be destroyed. Young people need to be educated from an early age in co-existence of different races, respect for the values of others and tolerance for different beliefs and customs, and it is to this end that so many states and international organisations, especially in Europe, have been engaged for many years in a slow, think-less but necessary task. The road to an irreversible European Union, whether a Europe of different nations or a supra-national entity, needs the union of the young people living in it.

Second World War

Especially since the end of the Second World War, political, religious, economic, cultural and leisure organisations have encouraged regular meetings and permanent inter-relations between young people of different ages and religions. Among them are party-based youth movements, religious youth groups, work camps, scouts, subsidised trips, contests, sports competitions for youth under 20 years, the Erasmus and Socrates university programmes, revision of historical and philosophical teaching texts and many other ways of bringing children, adolescents and young adults into frequent and uninhibited contact.

Policy

It is still premature to evaluate the latest results of this policy, but there is evidence that it has born fruit. Young people in Europe are proving to be far less racist, nationalistically aggressive and generally intolerant than they were fifty years ago. They are better prepared for a joint future in which the disputes and wars of the past are forgotten, and European citizens, from Portugal to Russia and Norway to Greece, aware of their roots and collective heritages, can join hands in building, more fraternal humanity.

Stamp in detail

Date of issue: 9 May 2000.
Value: 100 Esc.
Design: Jean-Paul Cousin.
Size: 30,6 x 40 mm.
Print: offset by INCM.

More information

Stamps of Portugal
Postage Stamps 2000