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The process of building the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has not been without controversy and different levels of interpretation in its creation, foundation and development. The aim of this paper is to portray the situation and go beyond the theoretical study, based on official documents which have accompanied and complemented meetings of European ministers responsible for higher education. From these deep interviews, in semi-structured format, we found interesting to capture the views, expectations and perceptions of responsible and active actors in the process of building the EHEA: Guy Haug, Domenico Lenarduzzi, Marius Rubiralta, Eric Froment, Josep M. Bricall and Jorge Fernández Díaz. All of them with political and university relevance have been implicated from different institutions: European Conference of Rectors, European University Association, Department of Education of the European Commission and various Ministries of Higher Education. Their contributions have provided knowledge to contrast and offer a better understanding of EHEA display. Based on the triangulation of the contributions of the interviewees and the review of official documents and statements the study concludes that the university (together with the research - European Research Area and lifelong learning - European Lifelong Learning Area) is the fundamental hinge for society development and European seal. But it needs to adapt to changing times and to be linked to competitiveness and efficiency. It also needs to provide more and better cooperation and proximity to encourage mobility and mutual recognition. Besides, the creation of EHEA corresponds to a power struggle between the University autonomy rights, the legislative right of state governments and the European Commission's recommendations. However, all of them agree to raise a self-critical reflection as regards the diffusion of information so as to avoid possible misinterpretation or misunderstanding and enable more and better ways of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]