One year before the European elections, which will be crucial for our continent, a coalition of academics, artists, civil society members and public and private sector actors have called for the ‘Revolution of Hope’—to tackle multiple challenges and keep the future of Europe in our hands Imagine walking down the street, stopping a random person and asking them what they think about Europe. In the early 1950s, a TV crew did exactly that and an elderly farm woman replied: ‘Well, if it's for Peace, it's fine’. Sixty years later, an elderly Ukrainian woman was asked the same question. We are in the weeks of the ‘Revolution of Dignity’ happening in Kyiv in 2014. She proudly shows a huge expanse of wheat, saying that, thanks to it, the whole of Europe would be fed. Yet, the gentleness with which the word “Europe” was pronounced does not seem so common in the EU anymore. In the public debate, “Europe” is often mentioned in relation to bad news, contradictions or, at best, major global problems to be tackled. Yet, in recent years, this “Europe” has meant so much when we needed solidarity during the pandemic and coordinated action to face war and climate crisis. This is why, during the 2024 European elections, Europe will be in a drastically different situation than it was five years before. Shaken by those crises and challenges, European society stands at a historical crossroads. We face an increasing number of forces that amplify division, fear and interference acting more and more powerfully against European unity and solidarity. Can we let them proceed without countering those developments? For now, our destiny lies in our hands, but will it tomorrow? The top three values that Europe should defend, according to a Eurobarometer survey, are democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. However, with the free exchange of ideas comes the danger of disinformation. In a Council of Europe survey, 82% of respondents cited ‘fake news’ as a major concern and a threat to democracy. This is not a new phenomenon, as we have seen foreign interference have an impact on electoral campaigns in Europe and the United States, specifically in 2016 but also more recently. Since the Second World War, democracy, freedom of movement and speech, economic growth and cultural exchanges, but also friendship and love, are springing up where armies once passed. Yet, there is a possibility that many Europeans find it hard to see all this, to notice that the European Union is an aspirational point of reference for many people in the region. We are the continent with the biggest economic market, with the most comprehensive welfare system; the safest, from every point of view, and all this thanks to this unique political project. Europe was born on the frontier between states used to fighting wars against each other, which have decided to tear down barriers, face their past and look towards the future with confidence. In fact, paraphrasing the sociologist Abdelmalek Sayad, what happens at the frontiers of a community is a mirror of ‘the deepest contradictions of a society, its political organisation and its relations with other societies’. Those frontiers that once passed through Verdun and the Somme today lie elsewhere, from Cutro to Kyiv. Without forgetting those frontiers between winners and losers of an insufficiently regulated globalisation, often marked by economic centres and European peripheries, the living contradictions that define the new ‘frontiers’ need to be tackled to rediscover the original goal and spirit of the European project. According to Eurobarometer, the predominant feelings among Europeans are, in order, uncertainty, frustration, helplessness, anger and fear—all feeding into division on the continent Yet, there is a glimmer of light that can be spotted. For more than one in three Europeans, that feeling is instead Hope. Not a hope made of empty, dreamy waiting, but an active, purposeful Hope, the hope that brings so many Europeans, inside and outside of the EU, to keep fighting for European values even if it means risking their lives. Europe must be up to the task of this hope of freedom. This is why, one year before crucial elections on our continent, in the face of so many forces that try to build momentum on negative emotions and divisions, we want to build an alternative front, capable of proposing a different way forward, a concrete one to transform and revitalise Europe and its democracy. The way starts with listening to those who will carry the weight of the future on their shoulders: young Europeans. In the age of social media, young citizens are particularly exposed to disinformation and have been heavily impacted by recent events such as the pandemic, war, inflation and climate anxiety. We aim to strengthen the positive dialogue between young citizens, across borders, across language barriers—in all their diversity. We will recentre the political debate on young people's priorities to rebuild trust, and also to create more ownership and to put their priorities for the future of Europe at the heart of the 2024 campaign, replacing the agenda of fear and division with their ‘Agenda of Hope’. This is how Europe and Hope will have the same sound again: EurHope. Today, we call all young citizens, all civil society members, all Member States, cities and regions and all engaged organisations to join the Revolution of Hope! List of signatories Gian Paolo ACCARDO, Founder and Chief editor of VOXEUROP Alberto ALEMANNO, Jean Monnet Professor at HEC Paris, founder of The Good Lobby Antonio ARGENZIANO, President of JEF Frédéric BAILLY, Executive Vice President at the SOS Group, Secretary general of Alliance Pact for Impact Mikuláš BEK, Minister for European Affairs of the Czech Republic Brando BENIFEI, Member of the European Parliament Laurent BERGER, General Secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), President of the European Trade Union Confederation Gabriele BISCHOFF, Member of the European Parliament Jean Marc BORELLO, Founder and president of Groupe SOS Damian BOESELAGER, Member of the European Parliament Gilbert BOURSEUL, CEO of TOPICS Maroua BOUZAIDA, Vice President of Toulouse Métropole, responsible for citizen participation Mercedes BRESSO, Member of the European Parliament, former President of the European Committee of Regions Jeanne BRETÉCHER, President of Social Good Accelerator Flavio BRUGNOLI, Director Centro Studi sul Federalismo Pascal CANFIN, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Marco CAPPATO, President of EUMANS, former member of the European Parliament Daniel COHN-BENDIT, Former Member of the European Parliament Fabio COLASANTI, Former Director General of the European Commission Alicia COMBAZ, CEO of Make.org Olivier COSTA, Researcher at CNRS, Professor at the College of Europe Axel DAUCHEZ, President of Make.org Pier Virgilio DASTOLI, President of the Italian European Mouvement Valerie DECAMP, Executive Director of Mediatransports Tremeur DENIGOT, Co-President of CIVICO Europa Adrien DUGUET, President of the Association Civic Tech Europe Eva EISLER, Professor, designer and artist Virginia FIUME, Co-President of EUMANS Cynthia FLEURY, Philosopher and psychoanalyst Daniel FREUND, Member of the European Parliament Martial FOUCAULT, Director of CEVIPOF Malte GALLÉE, Member of the European Parliament Sandro GOZI, Member of the European Parliament, President of UEF Patrizia HEIDEGGER, Deputy Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau Veera HEINONEN, Director, Democracy and participation, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra Gergely KARÁCSONY, Mayor of Budapest Guillaume KLOSSA, Co-President of CIVICO Europa, Founder of Europa Nova Luca JAHIER, Vice President of the European Semester Group, former President of the European Economic and Social Committee Benedek JÁVOR, Former Member of the European Parliament Zora JAUROVA, Producer, dramaturge, cultural politics and creative industry expert Christophe LECLERCQ, Founder of EURACTIV Media Network and of Europe's MediaLab Nathalie LOISEAU, Member of the European Parliament, former French Minister of European Affairs Biliana KOTSAKOVA, Lawyer, human rights defender Robert MENASSE, Writer Mario MONTI, Member of the Italian Senate, former Prime Minister of Italy, former European Commissioner Isabelle NÉGRIER, Director General of EuropaNova Ignacy NIEMCZYCKI, President of the Board of the Bronislaw Geremek Foundation Elisabetta OLIVI, former spokesperson of the European Commission and former spokesperson of the Italian government Bertrand PANCHER, Member of the French National Assembly, President of ‘Décider ensemble’ Clemence PÈNE, Vice-President of ‘A Voté’ Andrey KOVATCHEV, Member of the European Parliament and President of UEF Bulgaria Tsvetelina PENKOVA, Member of the European Parliament Francesca RATTI, Former Deputy Secretary general of the European Parliament María RODRÍGUEZ ALCÁZAR, President of the European Youth Forum Domènec RUIZ DEVESA, Member of the European Parliament Jacques RUPNIK, Emeritus Research Director, Sciences Po, former adviser of Václav Havel Emma SMETANA, Artist, performer, journalist Claus Haugaard SORENSEN, Chairman of the Global Executive Leadership initiative, former Director general of the European Commission Nathalie TOCCI, Director at the Istituto Affari Internazionali Inga WACHSMANN, President of Citizens for Europe Slavoj ŽIŽEK, Philosopher