Europe has grown into an economically and globally important region, competing seriously with China and the United States. This competition also involves Europe dealing with its guilt and operating outside Europe in pursuit of regional interests. This scenario is the very lifeblood of the Union's continued rationality.

As I will be celebrating my 91st birthday in 2040, I very much hope that I will be able to live to see it in full physical and mental health so that I can still enjoy the benefits of life to the full. I would then like to be able to read in the newspapers that Russia, China and North Korea have developed into model democratic republics following non-violent overthrows, which have flourished economically and are able to offer their populations prosperity and security. Our athletes are also able to shake off the unfortunate loser syndrome and the soccer team only fails in the semi-finals of the World Cup. As a happy great-grandfather, I can have a really good laugh at the clumsy, funny pranks of the great-grandchildren, which doesn't always please their parents. But they are still children with an unbridled thirst for action and nothing is really safe from them. After celebrating our 66th wedding anniversary in May, I took a short trip to Mariazell with my wife to finally see the place for myself. I've been planning this trip for at least 20 years. Otherwise, when the weather is good, we take short walks along the Danube to watch the boat traffic between Vienna and Bratislava from a bench on its banks. In the evening we watch TV, ZIB and, if possible, a movie before retiring for the night.

Life in 2040 is unimaginably different to what I remember it being like 20 years ago! When I wake up every morning, my mechanical assistant delivers my breakfast and vitamins to my bedside locker, while informing me of today's news headlines. The robot declares in a monotone voice: 'Fatal accident occurred in the early hours of the morning when assistant driving machine malfunctions while driving a family at night, with no survivors. Man given a fine of €500 for using slur in social media groupnchat, that was detected by the well-acredited AI anti-hate software that was introduced by our Government nearly 5 years ago.' I sit up, staring at the wall in front of me, and then back at my wee robot. Both headlines moved me, even more so due to their succession of one another. These vessels of human perception and knowledge can be fantastical yet ominous. My mind will never be made up on whether these machines are "good" or "bad", because there simply isnt good or bad, which we learned long ago from our own species. Also, I don't want to get a fine.

let's hope that in 2040, the U€ will no longer exist: it's an anti-people institution that's leading us towards misery and war, and I hope that my country will have already left this dictatorship long before ... as well as 0tan and the other related supra-national institutions (0nu,0M$,tan ..) that have no democratic legitimacy! Long live the liberation of Belgium! 1 Pays avec 1 Seul Gouvernement , le Peuple Souverain → il n' y a pas de démocratie possible sans Souveraineté Nationale !! merci quand même de m' avoir pris pour un Gogol , bon , c' est ok , j' ai à peu près mes 150 mots ☺ !!!