Asked not about their motivations, but about their identities, the students from the College – with the exception of the Germans – do not naturally and spontaneously perceive themselves as Europeans first. They listen with sympathy, and sometimes even emotion, to the testimonies of the generation for whom Europe was synonymous with the ideal of reconciliation and reconstruction.
如果不问动机，只问身份，学院的学生——德国人除外——不会发自内心地首先将自己当作欧洲人。听到将欧洲视为和解和重建的典范的那一代人的叙述时，他们也会产生共鸣，甚至感到振奋，但他们却迫切地需要一个新的故事。欧盟成立的故事不是他们的故事，而是他们的父母或祖父母的故事。他们不会问自己可以为欧洲做什么，而是问欧洲在求职和薪水方面可以为他们做什么。