Bono today urged Europe to reconnect with people by tackling issues they care about - such as eradicating hungry and poverty in Africa.
After talks at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, the rock star said one of the reasons for the failure of the new European constitution was that people did not share the vision promoted by political leaders.
"I am in a band and we travel around Europe and around the world and what we pick up from our audiences is a lack of vision from Europe.
"People don't 'feel' Europe. I think they don't see the vision of Europe because they don't feel Europe is a vision they can relate to."
Bono said the problems of the African continent was a chance for politicians and Europeans to "redescribe" themselves and their capabilities.
The U2 singer spend more than half an hour with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso discussing the EU's goal of doubling Europe's contribution to development aid in a decade.
Bono said his message to EU and world leaders was "don't blow it" as they meet in the next few weeks in a bid to boost the global effort to "make poverty history".
"Don't blow it, put down your national flags, look up from the numbers and see the future," urged Bono.
He had encouraging words for the EU, currently facing its worst political crisis in decades after France and The Netherlands voted against the new constitutional treaty.
"All this fighting in the European family feels very normal to me," he said to laughter at a press conference. "At our kitchen table it was just one long row and yet that is the thing I miss the most. It was always the families up the road who ate with knives and forks and never spoke to one another."
He said Europe was like his family - "strong in diversity and narkiness".