EUERC

Challenges ahead

Despite natural and understandable pre-occupations with current difficulties, the European Union has much to be satisfied about as it heads into its 51st year.

Given the starting point of 1957 - a continent stumbling its way out of the post-war malaise of shattered economies and dispirited peoples - what Europe is today is truly remarkable. Europe 2007 is barely recognisable from the Europe of 1957. The constituent nations are transformed. What was a small club of six nations is now a league of 27. Industry has been rebuilt and the spirit and health of the average European citizen is fundamentally different from 50 years previously.

The Eurosceptic perspective is that much of the economic advances would have come about in any event. There has to be an element of truth in this, but the scale of European progress over those five decades is such that the Union has to be credited with responsibility for the major part of the industrial revival and the social progress that has accompanied it.

While the economic performance of the Euro-nation(s) is of critical importance in the analysis of the European condition contained in this publication, we must not forget the other aspects of human existence that have benefited from the co-operation and harmonisation the Union has made possible. European institutions have made a significant impact in the fields of education, culture, technology and sport.

One aspect of the great European project we have to return to is the inspiration for its foundation. Most readers of this publication will have no practical first-hand knowledge of the two world wars which took Europe to the very edge of destruction. It is worth reminding ourselves of the historical European enmities which tore the continent apart and were, in the early part of the 20th century, just as intractable as any of the conflicts we see around the world today.

The foundation of the Union in 1957 was not about creating a common market for goods and services. It was about peace. Robert Schuman, in his historic declaration of May 1950, made sure everyone knew it. It's there in the very first sentence: 'World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.' The words 'peace' and 'peaceful' appear no less than five times in the declaration of a few hundred words. This was not some vague aspiration. This was a pragmatic, concrete peace.

The Union was also about reinforcing democracy and freedom. Again, we have to remind ourselves that immediately after the Second World War, European democracy was by no means established through the continent. Authoritarian dictatorships existed in Spain, Portugal and Greece, and Eastern Europe was part of the Soviet bloc. It was the success of the European Union that brought those dictatorships to an end and brought the Berlin Wall down because the Union's commitment to democracy, free markets and free people was an irresistible force. Democracy and freedom are simply taken for granted today but it was the European Union that made them so.

The Union put an end to those historic conflicts and reinforced freedom and democracy in a way that no other political movement or institution has done before or since. That is why, in the introduction to this publication, we referred to the Union and its forerunners as, arguably, the world's most intelligent political idea. In the wake of more than 50 years of peace and the great extension of freedom and democracy in Europe, we would suggest there can be no argument about it.

The value of history, of course, is how it can provide pointers for the present and the European achievements of the past must provide inspiration for dealing with difficulties of the future. While those difficulties pale into insignificance compared with the enormous political and economic tasks faced by Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet's generation, they provide today's European leaders with challenges requiring singular persistence and ingenuity.

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, speaking on the future of Europe in December 2006, said Europe's leaders for the next 50 years have to:

'Chart our vision for the future and reaffirm the political commitment of member states to the European project. In particular, European political leaders can tell European citizens why Europe never had it so good as during the last 50 years and why, if they want to have it still better during the next 50 years, they need a stronger European Union.'

Mr Barroso was swift to acknowledge the scale of the task. The problems with the adoption of the European constitution had emphasised the distance between Europe's leaders and Europe's people. There was also widespread dissatisfaction with some of Europe's institutions, particularly the Commission itself. There was, he said, acceptance on the part of the Commission that many institutions were in need of reform, which would make their work more transparent and accountable to the people. Also acknowledged in Brussels is the problem of European bureaucracy. Policies and decisions are taking more and more time to reach, paradoxically, a problem made worse by the Union's enlargement. The need to streamline the Union's decision-making becomes more important with rapid globalisation. There is little point in defining excellent policies and regulations if they become effective five years too late.

But despite these problems there is no alternative to a stronger European Union. The alternative Eurosceptic model, of independent nation states in some loose cooperative, is no alternative in a world where trade is dominated by the mega-economies of US, India and China. European ideas can only flourish if they are articulated by a united Europe. The constituent nations on their own, even the big three of France, Germany and the UK, are bit-part players on the world stage. Within the Union they become major players, politically, economically and culturally.

So, the major challenge facing the Union as it embarks on its second 50 years is how to become stronger and more effective with a greater capacity to act on the world stage while reconciling the issues surrounding sovereignty which derailed the move towards a European constitution. That disaffection with some elements of the European project has to be dealt with to enable the European Union to move on with a fresh sense of purpose.

The anniversary is the ideal opportunity to do this because it has given us the chance to reflect on the achievements of the Union to date. In looking at those reflections, and savouring the unquestioned success of the past 50 years, Europe will hopefully find the resolution to source a new political vigour and inspiration - an inspiration that will draw strength from the lessons and examples of the 20th century and provide the solutions for 21st century challenges that lie, not just within itself, but in the wider world too.