Her question: What does Europe mean to Europeans today?

She found that hope competed with disillusionment. The balance almost invariably depended on opportunity — whether the idea of Europe had opened doors to prosperity, or had allowed in unwanted threats in the form of new states, new values or new people.

Fears: Often, she found that the E.U. had become a proxy for big abstract things that people felt threatened their way of life: Migration in Italy. Capitalism in France. Liberal secular values in Poland.

Still, almost no one wanted their country to leave the E.U., even if almost no one was happy with how it was working.

Perspectives: When asked what the E.U. meant to them, a German professor said, “Freedom,” while “Slavery,” was an Italian grandmother’s answer. “Nothing at all,” was the answer given by a French electrician.