Stories Make You What You Are

             “It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.” In Patrick Rothfuss’s fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, he is pointing out a key aspect of human nature. We are the creator of our identity. The magnitude of what we become or don’t become lies in our hands. One of the methods that allows for humans to create an image is storytelling. It’s an old technique, but one of the devices for projecting how you’d like to be viewed.

            Now on my third official week as PPE-StgPress8, Mr. Stellini delegated me with the task of attending my first committee meeting. The other intern Pauline was usually the one who would go to the meetings and serve as the scribe writing down complete details to report back to Mr. Stellini, but it was now my turn. Instead there was a hearing concerning the NSA- EU scandal that she was attending. There was a little envy that crept into my spirit for not having the chance to be able to attend the hearing, but I pushed it to the side.

            The topic of my meeting was elections. The five-year terms of MEPs were coming to a close and that meant that the respective parties within the Parliament had now entered into election mode. As opposed to previous years, this election season will pose new challenges to members of the EPP Group. There is the rise of parties within the European Parliament that do not feel a connection to the European identity. Much of the legislation that the EPP has had passed, these far-right groups are looking to reverse. The rise of radical groups are gaining popularity within Europe, which poses a major threat to the pan-European identity.

            I went to the meeting like a nervouskindergartener on the first day of school. There I stood with my bulky laptop in its obnoxious black case while everyone around me had compact notebooks. I knew my writing skills were not quick enough to allow me to capture the conversation fully by writing alone. I could picture it now. The meeting ends, and I have nothing to give Mr. Stellini. There goes a bad evaluation.

            I took a seat in the back of the room and waited for the meeting to commence. Like the weekly board meetings, a majority of press advisors arrived and took their usual seats. Pedro Lopez, head of the EPP Press, headed the meeting. It revolved around the new strategy that the EPP would be taking in this year’s election. The presenter for today’s meeting was Phillip Weiss, the President of HyperThink.

            The vision Weiss had for the EPP was one entitled “Believein People.” Weiss’s message was for the EPP to emphasize that the people are the core of the European Union and that the MEPs, who are people, and their hard work is what drives change in Europe. This return to the people and wanting to share and promote their stories- what the EPP has done for them, would be the best approach for having a successful election season.

            His idea for accomplishing this would be through the old art of storytelling. The EPP would create all kinds of stories. Stories of MEPs being just like regular people. It would be of their experiences with the Erasmus Program if they participated, their first job, even anecdotes as simple as their favorite recipes to cook when at home. It was all about how to make the MEPs more accessible to the people. More importantly, they wanted the people to share their stories as well. The EPP Group was utilizing the power of social networking to make this storytelling strategy come to life by encouraging constituents to share their own stories. The device was the #believeinpeople that trends on twitter in Europe weekly.

            During the whole presentation, I found it to be a savvy idea. Similar to government in America, there seemed to be a detached relationship between the people and their MEPs. Like in America when we refer to our lawmakers as ‘those people in Washington,’ the same took place in Europe, but substitute Washington for Brussels. People needed a chance to see their lawmakers as actual people and not someone that they just routinely vote into office. The People of Europe’s trust of the Union has decreased and they do not see it as institution that is truly serving the people. If the EPP cannot disprove this image, who is to say that radical groups won’t have the majority power after the next elections?

            What surprised me most was the lack of faith in this campaign approach. Many of the press advisors scoffed in the face of the presenter, remarking that the “MEPs would never participate in this.” Did MEPs feel that they were past the stage of storytelling? Did they feel that their work in office had spoken enough for them? Perhaps this mindset is due to the fact that once you’ve achieved a certain status you are no longer responsible for creating your own story, because you now have others to do this for you. Whatever the case, storytelling seemed to be the key to this election. If the EPP wanted to protect their vision of a pan-European identity, then the MEPs and the election had to serve as a vehicle to remind people of the promise of this idea.