Common Values for a New Vision of Europe: Utopia or Dystopia?

The appointment of a Vice-president of the European Commission responsible for protecting the 'European way of life' and the polemics that this has triggered coupled with tensions followed by the 'refugees crisis' and the lack of solidarity among EU Member States, especially from the so-called Group of Visegrad, on the redistribution of migrants, have put on the fore front of the public debate the issue of common values among EU citizens, 'new citizens' and Member States themselves. Are common vales really common? Are the values listed in Art. 2 TEU the new common ground for a New Europe? Or the rise of populism is blocking any impetus towards new and progressive visions leaving the EU just the mere hope to survive? The proposed paper will address these issues by discussing the results of the EU-funded EUMINT project (Euroregions, Migration and Integration), in which civic integration encounters for refugees, asylum seekers and local population on key values of the European Union have been developed. In order to overcome the problems and criticisms usually attributed to civic integration programs, EUMINT employs a participatory and active learning approach and newly designed interactive didactic material. Based on surveys with participants and control groups, the paper will present the results of these encounters organized in Austria and Italy, evaluating to what extent they have been successful in fostering awareness of EU values, while overcoming the problematics frequently assigned to civic integration programs.