Good morning. Today, once again, I have to talk to some citizen from god knows where. Let’s see… today is Vasiliki’s day, from Kalamaria, Central Macedonia. I’ll have the cafeteria send up some tahini and black coffee to put her at ease. It’s a thoughtful touch that usually pays off and kills a solid chunk of the hour I have to dedicate to this bullshit about the EU being “close to its citizens.” But right on cue, here comes Vasiliki. I was hoping it would take her longer to navigate the 45 elevators of the Berlaymont; that usually buys me at least ten minutes. She’s a girl in her early thirties, jeans, sneakers, a white t-shirt, and a little backpack. I greet her with a radiant smile, show her to a seat, and kick things off by talking about my deep love for Greek beaches and sweets, especially tahini. In reality, I chose it because it was the only Greek thing they had at the bar. She smiles, sips her coffee, gives me some tourist recommendations, and takes a tiny bite of the pastry, followed by a faint grimace that betrays her disappointment at a flavor tasting more like a mass-produced snack cake than true Hellenic patisserie. But hey, half an hour has already vanished. I ask her what she does for a living, desperately trying to buy some more time.
Vasiliki has been teaching in a high school for a few years, and together with her students, she launched a project to promote grassroots democracy. And that’s why she’s here: because she wants to understand.
She opens her backpack, pulls out her notes, and asks me: “How are you tackling the seemingly widening gap separating European institutions and citizens? How do you bring citizens closer to the rooms where decisions are made? How do you foster their participation? “
She is so sweet, cute, and delightfully analog. I offer her another cup of coffee, but she politely declines and waits expectantly for answers. Yet, being Greek, she ought to know that democracy is no longer the answer. She should know that we are pure mathematics, and if you challenge mathematics, you’re a populist, and your spread jumps ten basis points before you even walk out of this room. But she isn’t Greece. Time’s up. I promise her I’ll send her an e-mail with the answers.
Tina
Illustration by Giovanni Capra.
Giovanni Capra holds a degree in Visual Communication Design from Università Iuav di Venezia and studied illustration at Mimaster illustrazione. He was a finalist for the Premio Illustri 2025 and the Autori di Immagini Annual 2026, and his work has been featured in several national and international magazines. He draws to better understand the world around him and to imagine things that don’t exist. He enjoys exploring trails, observing plants and animals, and breathing in the scent of the forest after the rain.