Vox Pop: Saskia from Estonia

Age: 19
Country of origin: Estonia
Country of residence: Singapore
Profession: Student

 

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

A: I guess it is embedded in many goods and services I have access to, be it through trade, monetary support or shared culture. I think the influence of the EU is not really something we think about on day-to-day bases, but the fact that it was created to sustain peace through interdependence of the member states can also mean that the fact that I have been born and grown up in time of peace can also be seen as an influence of the EU. 

 

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

A: The European Parliament hall.

 

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

A: … will hopefully have taken more radical and binding steps in terms of waste and clean energy, adapting more to a circular economy model to be a forward thinking trend setter for the rest of the world. 

 

Q: Choose three adjectives for the EU!

A: Supportive, cautious, modest

 

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

A: European Union is a group of countries in Europe that have agreed to work together and help each other, so all of them can live a better and more peaceful life. 

 

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

A: Like a family labrador – can be energetic, but often quite slow, and the behavior depends a lot on who is in the family, but everyone agrees that it is quite cute. 

 

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

A: I don’t really want to feed into the eastern European stereotype, but the potato? You never really notice how important of a role it plays on your table until someone starts talking about taking it away…