I am lifelong,
union-wide,
challenge-high

SPEECH

Hello to you 6-year-old and adults a little older.
I will be 86 next week. When I was six, the world was completely different. But do you know what has remained completely the same? The joy of realization when you learn to learn something new.

My message to you, 6-year-old future maker:

You are now starting the newest summer of your life. And believe it or not, you are the most important player in our most modern Union team. When you watch ants in the summer, learn a new game, climb a tree or wonder why the sky is blue and why adults laugh at stupid things, you are learning. Never lose that curiosity. I am 8 and 0 years older than you, and I still learn something new every day – for example, how smart is the AI ​​Älli. We are on the same team in this cooperative game of learning.  You show me where the world is going, and I'll try to tell you how to get by along the way.

And then a message to us adults, the Politic, Public, Private. Person group, and especially to parents of children of all ages:

We talk a lot about learning new things, but our biggest challenge is unlearning. We have to unlearn the old idea that learning only happens at desks and in offices, ready-made. We have to unlearn the obsession with control and the idea that we always know everything best. The world of people is changing so fast that many of our old rules and rigid working methods have become mere ballast. 

If we want to build a secure tomorrow for a six-year-old and, soon, thanks to him, for ourselves, we must dare to forget our old patterns. Unlearn the pompous bureaucracy and dare to sync ourselves with today.  Let's make the culturally rich Personal EU lifelong realization of home Europe one where we adults don't just pour information into the child's head but are walking alongside. Let's let the child realize it themselves, and protect that path in the background. 

With what and how, it will the second and third speech.

A wonderful summer of insight for all of us!

Let's rest, wonder and keep our eyes open. 

And when we meet others, let's use that unique moment to talk about our common game for the good of tomorrow.

30.6.2026

Kurre

www.personaleu.eu

5 Stages of the Lifelong Personal EU Value Process

Life is like a rope. You are one strand of it. Your parents are partly involved before you. Your children partly after you. All of us together form the continuum of the rope. The finiteness of our time and the power of our earth's natural forces are stronger than us.

Stage 1: Years of Wonder (Age: 0–2 years)

This stage lays the foundation for lifelong growth and learning. The focus is on perceiving the world through the senses and building basic security.

• Core of development: Sensory perception, motor rudiments, and the formation of attachment.

• Main goal: Experiencing the world as a safe and interesting place.

• Method: Exploring with the mouth, hands, sounds, and movement.

• Role of the environment: Nurture, respond to needs, and provide a stimulating environment.

• Core motto: "I touch, taste, and wonder – I am safe and the world is mine!"

• Personal EU as a part of European Digital Identity serves as the child's first and safest digital footprint at this stage of life. Its role is divided into the following core tasks:

• Official birthright: Creates a protected, EU-wide, identifiable digital identity and personal Union team right for the child from birth.

• Health data anchor: Stores clinic visits, vaccinations, and growth charts in a secure digital wallet (EU Digital Identity Wallet).

• Guardianship verification: Strongly and cryptographically links the child's identity to the parents' digital wallets.

• Privacy protection: Ensures that the child's sensitive growth data is not commercialized or shared with external third parties.

Stage 2: Years of Insight (Age: 3–12 years)

This is the time for building curiosity and basic security.

• What happens: The child does not learn theories but experiences values in everyday life. Democracy is learned by sharing toys, and the green transition is learned by wondering about the forest.

• Core motto: "I can, I wonder, and the world is a safe place."

• Support: The first stage of the Union team (pedagogues and parents) protects this sensitive curiosity from digital dangers.

Stage 3: Years of Learning (Age: 13–25 years)

In this stage, identity, critical thinking, and future skills are built.

• What happens: The young person learns to challenge information and recognize disinformation. In this stage, official study paths, digital competence, Erasmus+ exchanges, and preparation for working life come into play.

• Core motto: "I choose my own direction, I question, and I influence."

• Support: Protected learning platforms and career paths created by society (Public) and companies (Private).

Stage 4: Application and Unlearning Years (Age: 26–65 years)

This is the stage of active adulthood and working life, where the biggest challenge is flexibility.

• What happens: This is the stage that the 86-year-old reminded us of in his spring celebration speech. An adult must be able to unlearn old, dysfunctional patterns and prejudices. The world is changing so fast that a single degree is not enough for a lifetime. The value lies in continuous renewal and taking responsibility for the next generation.

• Core motto: "I apply my skills, but I also dare to forget the old in order to learn the new."

• Support: Flexible continuing education in working life and Policy-level guidelines that enable career changes and lifelong learning as an adult.

Stage 5: Years of Wisdom and Transfer (Age: 66–100+ years)

This is the stage of sharing life experience and acting as an anchor.

• What happens: The value process culminates in the elderly person acting as a mirror for the younger generations. It is about intellectual capital: passing on values, history, and an understanding of life without being patronizing. At the same time, the senior learns to keep up with the times (e.g., new digital services) under the guidance of the younger ones.

• Core motto: "I make my experience available to others and keep my mind open until the end."

• Support: Intergenerational cooperation, where seniors are an active part of the People pillar and children's Union teams (e.g., godfather/godmother activities in daycare centers).

How Do These Personal EU Parts Meet?

The process is cyclical. When the 86-year-old (Stage 5) and the 6-year-old (Stage 2) meet, the value process closes beautifully:

• The senior transfers peace and wisdom to the child.

• The child reinfects the senior with the joy of insight and curiosity.

• The adults in the middle (Stage 4) make sure that the structures of Politics, Public, and Private enable this encounter safely.

How Does This Five-Stage Division Form the Basis of the Personal EU Lifelong Path?

• Adults in Stage 4 are helped in practice to unlearn (e.g., renewing leadership or teaching methods).

• A tool or indicator will be provided, allowing individuals to understand which stage of their own value process they are currently in.

• Stages 2 and 5 will be brought together physically or digitally in this pilot.

How to grow into the Union Team reality

A child's growth into their own Union Team reality that they received at birth does not happen in lessons or administrative agreements. It happens by making that team a natural part of the child's and family's everyday life.

In order for the activity to be meaningful and easy for all parties – the child, parents, educators and godparents – it must be built around play, direct interaction and smart everyday help.

Phase 0

• . Every EU citizen would receive their own cyber-secure ID at birth with TeamFinder, a Union-wide team building tool

Phase 1: The years of discovery (3-12 years old) – “The team is in play”

• At this stage, the child does not think about the EU or the agencies. For them, the Union Team is a group of trusted people and secure tools that make everyday life more fun.

• Home and family (People): For parents, the Union Team appears as a fully secure and ad-free family platform operating through the EU Digital Identity Wallet. It does not increase screen time, but gives parents, for example, one concrete “conversation starter” or play idea each week to implement with their child (e.g. “This week the daycare center in France is baking, shall we bake too?”).

• Everyday encounters (Interaction): In daycare or preschool, a mentor pedagogue (Public) invites the team to join in a storytime lesson remotely. For example, an EU sponsor (Senior or Erasmus student) living in another country reads a story to the children in their own language, and the children spot the words.

• Meaningfulness for the child: The child experiences that the world is open and full of friends. When they use a safe coding toy or robot (a device produced by the Private pillar) in a group, they learn that technology is a friend who is commanded – not a box into which they are immersed alone.

• Concrete growth into reality: The child naturally learns to be like-minded across borders. It is completely normal for them that their everyday life includes familiar people from other parts of Europe.

Phase 2: Learning years (13–25 years old) – "The team is my sparring partner"

• When moving to upper secondary school and upper secondary school, the Union team becomes the child's (young person's) own personal resource that helps them achieve their own goals.

• The young person's own role: The young person takes the reins of the team. The protected digital learning backpack contains the "competence badges" (micro-degrees, language immersions, volunteer work) that the young person has earned themselves, which are officially valid in all EU countries.

• Home as background support: The role of parents changes from direct guidance to supporting the young person's independence. Home is a place where we break down the issues encountered with the team – for example, practicing critical media literacy and talking about fake news encountered on social media.

• Collaboration with the network:

• Politic & Public: School and study guidance help young people to take advantage of the concrete benefits offered by the EU, such as the Youth Guarantee or free Interrail tickets (DiscoverEU).

• Private: Companies offer young people direct, safe remote internships or mentors, allowing them to test their skills in the real world.

• Meaningfulness for all parties: For young people, the activity is meaningful because it helps them move forward in life (study places, international friends, summer jobs). For companies and municipalities, it is meaningful because they get direct contact with future talents without rigid intermediaries.

How does this happen naturally?

• To prevent this from becoming an achievement, the personal EU TeamFinder given at birth runs in the background like an invisible, safe backpack.

• The child grows through participation in it: at the age of 6, he draws a picture for a group of sponsors in Italy, at the age of 16, he asks his team for tips on finding a summer job in Germany. The entire network – home, school, companies and decision-makers – speak the same language and operate via the same secure platform, so that no one is burdened, but everyone benefits.

How can we put this into practice in everyday life

• Make a "Union Team Handbook for Parents" – that is, how the home can live this without stress

• Make "Eemi's (6 years old) day in the Union Team", which can be used to present a pilot project

• Think about how technology companies in the Private pillar would create completely safe growth environments