Many EU citizens question whether the European Union matters for them. But like very often, these are people who wouldn’t understand how privileged they are until those privileges are taken away from them. They are people who take the good life for granted, which can be very dangerous.
Sure, we all recognize the travel benefits that the EU provides for EU citizens. But there are thousands of other benefits from the EU that we get to enjoy every single day but which we don’t realise are privileges because they’re such an obvious part of our lives.
The anti-EU rhetoric is growing and being fed predictably by russia and unbelievably also by the US government. Our continent is being thrashed from left and right, and it’s up to us to stay firm and keep our wits about us. If we don’t, you can say bye bye to that good life…
10 Reasons Why the European Union Matters
I don’t think I’d be alive anymore if I wasn’t an EU citizen. Simply because some of us are truly born in the wrong country. But because my country thankfully is in the Union, I was able to get away and find a life that suited me elsewhere. If I hadn’t had that absolute privilege, I would’ve probably hung myself a long time ago.
Sure, for most people the reasons why the European Union matters to them are probably much lighter. They are more likely reasons that we all recognise, like the freedom of movement, travel convenience and free movement of goods and services. In practice all of that means that we can ignore all of the inconvenient and expensive paperwork, like visas and tariffs.
But there are plenty of reasons why we need the European Union in our everyday lives as well! Many of you don’t even know that these privileges actually are privileges provided to us by an EU membership. As in, without EU citizenship you would NOT have any of this:
1. Economic stability and mobility
Yeah, I know many of you think you’re oh, so excellent with your supposedly splendid economic knowledge. And yet you only repeat propaganda provided to you by far right twats on social media who can’t even read, let alone count. None of what they’re saying makes any sense, but you can’t see that, can you? Even with all the information available at your fingertips…
And because you also struggle to recognise the massive difference between an opinion and a fact, I’m here to tell you that no, your opinion on economic matters counts for fuck all! Because the fact is that the European Union matters a great deal to all EU countries whether you like it or not. Yes, that is a fact!
I can hear you wheezing “Prove it!”. Seek and ye shall find, here’s how the European Union makes your everyday life easier:
- Financial services: easier banking, investing and access to EU funding and programmes for individuals and businesses.
- Competitive advantages: increased competition from businesses operating across the EU creates lower prices and improves quality for local consumers.
- Safer and better quality products & services: recognized qualifications and harmonized standards raise the baseline quality of essential local professional services like healthcare, food, construction and finance.
2. Access to work and education abroad
Let’s continue on the economy but move on to the professional markets, which also affects your everyday life a great deal. Especially the lack of it! So, the European Union matters because it offers us a much bigger job market.
Now, while you might not be willing to even consider moving abroad, your child may want to go study and work abroad. So, let’s keep that in mind, the world does NOT revolve around you alone. Because even if this is not a privilege that you’d be interested in, there’s a shit-ton of us who need it!
When your own country fails to offer you a place to study or work, the EU provides us with plenty of alternatives, like:
- access to job markets across member states with equal treatment in employment and social security,
- and studying at universities across the EU with the same or reduced fees, plus access to student loans and grants in most countries.
3. Social security coordination
Anyone who has traveled extensively or lived abroad can vouch for this: paperwork is the worst! And that’s also why the European Union matters to its citizens: it makes most of the paperwork irrelevant! Whether just traveling or living as an immigrant, as an EU citizen you have the European Health Insurance card, which is a huge privilege to have.
Instead of paying for costly insurances, the EU covers all of us with the following:
- access to public healthcare in other EU countries with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or reciprocal arrangements
- pensions, healthcare, unemployment benefits and social rights coordinated across member states to protect contributions and entitlements.
Of course, for possible natural disasters or big accidents that cause major injuries and require transportation between countries, the EHIC is not enough. For all of that you will need an insurance while traveling.
4. High product safety and consumer rights
This is one of those things that we can’t see in our everyday life, and as such people take it for granted. Which can be dangerous! The European Union matters in terms of product safety and consumer rights in following ways:
- EU-wide regulations ensure that locally sold goods meet strict safety, environmental and labeling rules, which reduces risks for EU consumers
- uniform protections (right to repair/replacement/refund, clearer warranties) make local purchases safer and potential disputes easier to resolve.
In practice this means that production in Europe is safe for the workers as well as for consumers. Your purchases are free from toxic substances because they are banned, products include clear labeling to ensure correct consumption and recycling, and the likelihood of being scammed by brands is lower due to consumer rights. And even more importantly we have:
5. Environmental and food standards
Have you ever seen videos on social media where European food products are compared with US equivalents? If not, you should! In the United States “food” products’ ingredient lists consist of dozens, even hundreds of E-codes and chemical mixtures that are banned in the EU. Often there are no natural ingredients at all. Yet they call it ‘food’…
For example, a slice of “cheddar cheese” in the US is closer to plastic than actual food. If you search for videos on this, you’ll see how the “cheese” doesn’t change shape, as in melt, on a barbeque. It’s not actually edible but that’s what is sold in the US as food because there are no regulations or standards.
Whereas in the EU the high standards of the food we consume are ensured through:
- EU regulations on pesticides, food labeling, origin rules and sustainability. This way we know that local food and goods are safer and more traceable, which makes supporting local easier
- EU funding, like CAP, regional development funds and grants, which strengthen local producers to keep jobs and maintain local services.
In 2026 there have been two major setbacks to this fundamental European value, though: the Mercosur deal and allowing genetically manipulated farming (GMO) into the EU. Both can be detrimental to European citizens but especially Mercosur goes against European values and food production:
The Mercosur deal threatens EU consumer safety and rights
The deal that was forced through by Ursula von der Leyen can bring small economic benefits for European food and technology producers, but it can be a massive threat to food safety and farmers in the EU.
For example, the Mercosur deal is of course unfair to European farmers and producers who must abide by strict health and safety rules, unlike their South American competitors. While EU farms can’t use antibiotics to prevent diseases in cattle because it affects the meat, and that way the consumers, their South American competitors can sell antibiotic-infested meat to us.
This will obviously be unsafe for EU consumers (or any consumers for that matter) who are then exposed to meat and dairy products that include toxins and medications that are banned in the EU.
And we all know that animal welfare in South America is nowhere near decent, not to mention the damage this deal will do to the Amazon rain forest… There are massive ethical and sustainability issues related to this deal which should weigh more than the small economic benefits for just a few European countries.
6. Infrastructure and funding for local projects
While nobody’s perfect, and as such even the EU makes mistakes, the European Union matters more than it fucks up. Another EU privilege we take for granted every single day are good public transport, brilliant road networks and safe public spaces. Also known as infrastructure.
None of these would be possible to the extent we’ve grown to know if it wasn’t for cohesion funds and EU programmes that finance roads, schools, broadband and other local improvements that benefit residents all over the continent. Yes, your internet connection would rely on the will of an extremely unstable trillionaire if it wasn’t for the EU. Which leads me to:
7. Stronger consumer and data protections
Few people know that our personal data is actually much more valuable than the price of gold. But none of us has much, if any, rights to our personal data online. We can’t determine who has access to it and what it’s used for. While systems already exist that enable private individuals to own and manage their personal data, they haven’t broken into mainstream knowledge yet.
But imagine this: when you own your own data online, you get to decide who uses it and for what price. Right now every website you visit rakes data to sell it for marketing purposes making millions every month. But if you own your data, you could sell some of it yourself and keep all the profits.
In the EU us citizens are protected to some extent with rules like GDPR, product safety, and passenger rights. While the global mega-corporations are deeply embedded into our systems, and thus pose major risks, we’re not completely at their mercy.
8. Voting and political participation
Even though the high walls of democracy are shaking and even crumbling at places, the European Union matters still in this regard. The Union makes it possible for us EU citizens to vote in all elections regardless of our whereabouts. This is thanks to the embassies, of course, but there’s more.
When an EU citizen lives in another EU country, they can:
- vote
- stand in local elections
- and stand in European Parliament elections in that member state.
I can personally vouch for the pros of this privilege! I’ve lived all over Europe all of my adult life, but I’ve never missed an election back at home. Funnily enough it took me almost 10 years of living in another country before I practiced my right to vote in that country’s elections as well…
9. Non-discrimination and fundamental rights
With democracy facing another crisis in just 100 years, fundamental human rights are also under threat. Which is ironic because those rights also protect the far-right twats opposing them. Talk about being the ultimate idiot… But whether your country has declared racism illegal or not, the EU makes it very clear:
We all have legal protections under EU law against any sort of discrimination. In addition we have access to EU-wide rights, which include but are not restricted to, consumer protections, data rights and quality standards.
10. Consular protection
And last, but certainly not least, we have consular protection. Sure, this applies to most people on the planet if their country has embassies abroad. But the European Union matters in this regard with its wider scope.
When traveling outside the EU area, you can seek help from any other EU country’s embassy or consulate if your country doesn’t have representation in that country. This is again pretty unique, and one of those things that many of us don’t even know about. Well, now you do!
Final Thoughts on the Importance of the EU
The EU is one of those things that you don’t really notice until it’s taken away from you. The moment you lose your European Union citizenship, your life overall becomes much more restricted, confined, uncertain and limited. Don’t believe me? Ask the Brits! They lost an immeasurable amount of basic privileges due to Brexit.
And even if they get some of those privileges back, like joining the Erasmus program, it still won’t be the same. So, don’t be a twat by taking your absolute privilege for granted! Instead, today might be a good day to remember the reasons why the European Union matters to you. ♥
